Featured Scientist

Stacy Sherman conducts fish sampling at Liberty Island in the north Delta.


Stacy and her husband, Marcus, a biology teacher at Stockton’s Stagg High School.


Stacy and her three stepsons – Owen, Jack and Charlie – pause for a photo overlooking Lake Tahoe.

Stacy Sherman is an environmental program manager based in the Bay-Delta Region’s Stockton Field Office. She heads CDFW’s Fish Restoration Program Monitoring Team, a group of eight scientists and staff charged with one specific but important task: monitoring and supporting efforts to restore 8,000 acres of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh to tidal wetlands.

The restoration was mandated in 2008 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help at-risk fish populations in the Delta as a condition of operating the Central Valley and State Water Projects, which send water to the Central Valley and southern California.

Stacy joined CDFW in 2014 from the University of the Pacific in Stockton where she was an assistant professor of biology for seven years. She was born in Nebraska but raised in Baton Rouge, La. She holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Louisiana State University and a Ph.D. in marine biology and fisheries from the University of Miami, where she studied billfish larvae – baby sailfish and marlin – for her dissertation.

Fill us in on the Delta restoration efforts. Where are we in meeting the goal of restoring 8,000 acres to tidal wetlands?

It’s all in the pre-project planning phase. There are a lot of moving parts. The Department of Water Resources (DWR) is the lead agency and it’s DWR’s responsibility to actually do the restoration. Our team is relatively new. We exist to determine whether the restoration is effective and to provide the biological expertise.

DWR has acquired several sites. These are all on public land or properties purchased from willing sellers. Prospect Island in Solano County is one. Bradmoor Island is another. Many already have some marshy areas. DWR will dig out some more and punch some holes in the levees. The first project will probably be breached next year.

What’s so important about making these lands accessible to the tides and tidal influence?

Back before the Gold Rush, all of the Delta was wetland. After the land was reclaimed, we lost something like 97 percent of the marsh. The idea is that the tidal marsh is incredibly productive and our changes to it probably affected the food web. So the requirement to restore so much acreage to tidal wetlands is to increase the availability of food and habitat for listed fish species, particularly the Delta smelt but also salmon. When I talk about it publicly, I try to bring people back to what was here in the past and how productive it is and how a healthy environment is good for everyone.

Did you develop your passion and expertise in wetlands growing up and going to school in Louisiana?

I spent a lot of time on the water growing up, but not necessarily the marsh – mostly lakes. My family started going to this one little lake outside of Baton Rouge when I was like 4. It’s called False River and it’s an oxbow lake off the Mississippi River. We sailed and fished and swam there all the time.

When I was in college, I did some undergraduate research on the coast in the marsh. And my post-doctorate work is all in the marsh. That was actually in South Carolina.

What brought you to California and CDFW?

I decided to try the academic track and ended up in Stockton at the University of the Pacific teaching biology. The university is heavily skewed toward pre-dental and pharmacy so it wasn’t a great fit for me.

One of my former master’s students, Phillip Poirier, who is now my colleague here in the office, sent me this job ad and said, “Do you know anyone who would like to apply for this?” And I said, “That sounds really nice. I will apply for it.”

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I really enjoy getting together with smart people here who care about the estuary and want to see it improved. I get the chance to work with people within CDFW and across other agencies, nonprofits, consulting firms, and it’s really nice to see people working together toward the same goal. We might have differences of opinions but we are all trying to get to the same place.

California’s education leaders are concerned about the lack of girls and young women studying science and pursuing science and technology careers. Do you have any advice for them?

I think the key for any kid is to get them engaged, get them outside. Don’t give them answers. Give them a chance to work things out – some of the inquiry-based science.

My husband actually teaches high school biology at Stagg High School in Stockton and we talk about this a lot. He takes his students out to the Calaveras River, which runs right through Stockton. Experiences like that for me – hands-on, getting outside, answering questions, being able to be creative – is what made this field really attractive.

When I was in middle school, the public school I attended offered marine biology and that was my first time to a marine lab and an overnight field trip. And then at LSU, I had all of these great field experiences and a really great ichthyology professor who kind of nudged me and encouraged me along the way.

You have a unique perspective as an educator and now as a CDFW manager trying to hire scientists. Are universities doing enough to prepare the next generation of natural resource scientists?

I think it’s variable. There are places that do have strong programs that really do prepare students well. I’ve had some amazing staff. We had a scientific aide here, Sunny Lee, who graduated from UC Santa Barbara and he came in with just so many skills – good writing and he already knew a bunch of invertebrates. He caught on to our process really quickly so that was great. On the other hand, you see applications from those who graduated with a degree in environmental studies – environmental science majors even – who say, “This will be a really great job for me. I really want to do this and get outside.” And I don’t think some of those applicants necessarily grasp the rigor involved – that this is serious science and it’s not just playing around outside.

What advice would you give a young person thinking about a career in natural resources?

Talk to people in the field before you make a decision about your school or the program you want to study. Go out and volunteer if you can. Make contacts. I would recommend they pay a lot of attention to math and statistics especially. Get used to working hard. Be the hardest worker in the room as that’s what’s going to get you along.

Tell us something about yourself many people would be surprised to learn.

Most people are surprised to find out I’m part Cajun. My mom is Cajun. I get a lot of questions about my lack of accent.

All photos courtesy of Stacy Sherman

Tim working a deer capture in Round Valley. The deer was captured with a net gun, blindfolded, and hobbled for helicopter transport to base camp or a central processing station.


Tim radio-collared and took samples from this anesthetized black bear during the 2016 Eastern Sierra Black Bear Study.

Tim Taylor is an environmental scientist for CDFW’s Inland Desert Region, which includes Imperial, Inyo, Mono, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. He has spent his entire 17-year CDFW career in a single area of study – the Eastern Sierra – and he is only the third Mono County unit biologist in department history.

Like many other CDFW scientists, Tim earned his Bachelor of Science in wildlife management at Humboldt State. The Southern California native did myriad odd jobs to get through college, including working on a ski lift, putting up drywall and even thinning trees and fighting fires. After college, he worked as an independent biologist throughout California, Oregon and Nevada, conducting wildlife assessment surveys for a wide range of threatened and endangered species including desert tortoise, red-legged frog, spotted owl and Sierra Nevada red fox.

Today, Tim’s primary job duties include monitoring diverse wildlife species – including sage grouse, deer, pronghorn and bears – in a part of the state most Californians never have the opportunity to experience.

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in wildlife biology?

When I was a kid growing up in the June Lake area of the eastern Sierra, I always knew I wanted to be a wildlife biologist. I had the good fortune of getting to know the very first CDFW wildlife biologist for the Mono unit, Andy Anderson, and he took me into the field with him whenever possible. I got to participate in some amazing wildlife work, like trapping and relocating nuisance black bears (when we used to do that!), rearing Canada goose goslings, counting strutting sage-grouse and helping at deer hunter check stations. This work provided me with an early appreciation and knowledge of eastern Sierra wildlife and their habitats, and from that time on, the Mono unit biologist position became my dream job.

After Andy retired, I became good friends with his successor, Ron Thomas. He was also a great mentor. I started working for CDFW in the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep program with the hope of eventually transferring to the Mono unit position. Fortunately, after Ron retired, I was in the right place at the right time.

What are your current responsibilities?

Working as a unit wildlife biologist requires being a generalist with the knowledge and understanding of all wildlife that inhabit my work area. During any given day I can deal with a number of different wildlife species issues like sage-grouse habitat conservation, mule deer and pronghorn research, nuisance black bear complaints and talking with deer hunters about the best place to find a buck. My duties include wildlife resource assessment, habitat enhancement planning and implementation, hunting management, nuisance wildlife response and environmental review. I am currently involved with a number of different wildlife research projects, including a sage-grouse translocation effort to rescue a small, isolated sub-population near the Mono basin and a GPS collaring study of black bears to determine home range distribution and habitat use.

I also occasionally provide advice on how to reduce human-bear conflicts at the Mountain Warfare Training Center, a US Marine Corps installation in Mono County. I review environmental documents that relate to their training area, and work with new recruits on how to identify animals, as part of their survival training.

Which species do you work with most frequently?

Mule deer are the most conspicuous and widespread large mammal in the eastern Sierra. Mono county supports five large migratory herds. I manage 2 mule deer hunt zones, X12 and X9a. Hunt zone X12 comprises three herds that occupy northern Mono County. These are interstate herds that are jointly managed for hunting purposes by CDFW and the Nevada Department of Wildlife. Zone X9a comprises two herds that occupy southern and central Mono County. Those are managed solely by CDFW. Along with other CDFW biologists, I conduct population surveys and collect data on vital rates and nutritional condition as part of an integrated population monitoring approach for assessing the status of local deer herds.

Mono County also supports a large population of greater sage-grouse, which is part of the Bi-state Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of greater sage-grouse. The Bi-state DPS, which is genetically distinct from other sage-grouse across the range, occupies sagebrush habitat in Inyo and Mono counties in California and Douglas, Mineral, Lyon and Esmeralda counties in Nevada. Sage-grouse is a sagebrush obligate species, meaning it relies on sagebrush for its survival. They are also an umbrella species, used in making conservation related decisions that affect the sagebrush ecosystem. Our efforts to conserve the sage-grouse indirectly protects other sagebrush obligate species, such as pygmy rabbit and Brewer’s sparrow, that inhabit the sagebrush ecosystem.

Then there’s the eastern Sierra black bear. Their population has increased dramatically over the last 10 years, and therefore has created numerous management challenges. In most of the rural east side towns there is no regular garbage pickup, so people store their trash and take it to a landfill. This creates a situation where bears have open access to garbage that is not properly secured in a building or bear-proof container. Once a bear has become food-conditioned, it’s pretty much over. It will start breaking into homes and cabins next.

What project or accomplishment are you most proud of?

In 2007, CDFW acquired 1,160 acres of critical greater sage-grouse habitat in northern Mono County, which included two strutting grounds, brood rearing meadows and winter habitat. Approximately 900 of the 1,160 acres was proposed to be subdivided into 40 acre parcels, which included the only two remaining leks for this sub-population of sage-grouse, as well as some critical mule deer migration and summer range habitat. CDFW acted in a timely manner in acquiring the property, and in doing so, prevented the loss of this critical sage-grouse habitat.

Without the acquisition and eventual conversion of the property into a State Wildlife Area, these leks would have been destroyed resulting in the extirpation of this sage-grouse sub-population.

The acquisition was funded by the Wildlife Conservation Board, and was especially important because it was one of the many conservation actions that helped to prevent the federal listing of the Bi-state greater sage-grouse.

What project would you most like to do, given unlimited time or resources?

I would implement several much needed wildlife crossing projects that would include a combination of underpasses, overpasses and fencing to allow deer, bears and other wildlife safe passage across highway 395 in Mono County.

What do you love most about your job?

The fact that I have the flexibility to work with so many different wildlife species on so many different projects.

What advice would you have for a young scientist wanting to do what you do?

Try to become as diversified as possible with respect to your knowledge of wildlife throughout the state. Working as a unit biologist requires multiple species management so become a naturalist and develop a broad understanding of the species that inhabit your work area.

Photos courtesy of Tim Taylor
Top photo: Tim working on a Round Valley deer herd capture team

Laura Cockrell with an endangered Green sturgeon she tagged in the Sacramento River for a sturgeon movement study


Laura holds a Western pond turtle at Upper Butte Basin Wildlife Area.


Laura swabs a hunter-harvested Northern pintail for Avian Influenza sampling in 2007 at the Gray Lodge Wildlife Area.

Laura Cockrell is an environmental scientist at the Upper Butte Basin Wildlife Area, which is made up of three units covering nearly 9,700 acres in Butte and Glenn counties. Her duties include coordinating and conducting biological surveys on the wildlife area, managing wood duck nesting boxes, coordinating with volunteers and interacting with partners, including governmental agencies and non-government organizations. While most of her work involves surveying for game species, she has also captured giant garter snakes and western pond turtles for studies, and conducted surveys for yellow-billed cuckoos and Swainson’s hawks. Laura can also regularly be found planning habitat improvement and maintenance projects, writing reports, creating maps designed for public use on the wildlife area and generally assisting the public.

Laura graduated from California State University, Chico in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Science with an emphasis in Wildlife Biology. She earned a Master of Science in Biology with a concentration on Applied Ecology from Eastern Kentucky University. Her thesis used Landsat imagery to evaluate trumpeter swan nesting sites in Yellowstone National Park.

Prior to working at the Upper Butte Basin Wildlife Area, she worked for the International Halibut Commission in Dutch Harbor, and for California Waterfowl in the Sacramento Valley, where she worked on summer mallard banding, pintail rocket netting, nest searches and wetland monitoring.

What led you into a career as a wildlife biologist?

I always enjoyed being outside and exploring as a kid. It took me a little while to find my path in college, but I chose to major in biology because studying ecology and nature sounded like a good chance to be outside every day. I signed up for a waterfowl course, and my passion for wildlife really took off after that.

Who or what brought you to CDFW? What inspires you to stay?

When I first started as a scientific aid with the department almost 11 years ago, I was working on the Avian Influenza Project. I swabbed hunter-harvested birds at the check station to be tested for avian influenza in the lab, and surveyed for bird die-offs throughout the region. I had never worked alone before, and it taught me a lot about how important it is to stay focused and on task when you are by yourself!

What inspires me to stay with the department is the potential I see for us to fulfill the goals of our management plan, and to improve habitat on the lands we have been entrusted to manage.

What is a typical day like for you at work?

It depends on the season. Waterfowl season is our busiest season as far as public use. It runs from late October through the beginning of February, but the preparation begins much earlier. During waterfowl season, I am usually in the office or at the check station. After waterfowl season ends, I finalize our hunt records for the end of season report and everyone is out monitoring the area flooding or inspecting damage from flooding. In the spring when we are in full survey mode, I will probably be out in the field before sunrise counting pheasant or quail. During the summer, I am usually in the field banding or in the office working on grant reports. Fall brings us back into preparation for the hunting seasons, where we have to prepare for September dove hunts, the J-9 zone deer hunt and waterfowl season.

What is your favorite species to interact with or study?

I have really enjoyed getting to work with western pond turtles and giant garter snakes. I took herpetology in college and it was great but “herps” were not really my thing until I got to work with them more. Any time we get to work with protected species and species of special concern is rewarding, and it is not something we get to do very often. Seeing protected species thrive on our wildlife areas means the hard work that goes into developing protections is helping local populations persist, and if the local population becomes healthy enough to expand maybe they can rebound throughout their range.

What is the most rewarding project that you have worked on for CDFW?

Upper Butte Basin Wildlife Area is one of the few wildlife areas with an agriculture lease, so we work with our farmers to support wildlife-friendly agriculture practices. Because of the winter flooding this year, some of the rice fields were too wet during planting season, and farmers will be enrolling those fields in the BirdReturns program, which is offered by The Nature Conservancy in partnership with the California Rice Commission. The Nature Conservancy and the California Rice Commission began this program in 2014 to compensate farmers who provide pop-up habitat for migratory shorebirds in the fall and spring by flooding fallow rice fields. We are planning shorebird surveys during fall migration and I am so excited to see how shorebirds will react, hopefully by returning to the area. During the shorebird survey, we will drive down the roads through the flooded rice fields and count the number and types of shorebirds that are using the fields. Normally, if the fields have been planted in rice, they would not be usable by the birds because they are looking for mudflats, not rice fields. We would hope to see a high diversity of species and large amounts of birds using the flooded rice fields.

What is it about the work you do that you would most like us to know?

There are many constraints on the work we do that are created by factors outside our control. A large part of the work on our wildlife area is managing wetlands, but the drought brought a lot of challenges with water management. We work with what we have, but sometimes it is not a lot and that can be frustrating.

If you had free reign and unlimited funding, what scientific project would you most like to do?

Wildlife overpasses/underpasses! Our wildlife area has a highway that bisects one of the units, and the amount of wildlife killed by vehicles is such a shame. A few years ago, we had four deer killed in a quarter-mile stretch in less than a week, and this winter someone ended up driving into a waterway at one of our units to avoid a collision with a deer! There are the standard “deer crossing” signs, but people often drive well over the speed limit and put themselves and wildlife at risk for a collision. There has been a great deal of success in reducing wildlife collisions where wildlife overpasses and underpasses were created. I would love build underpasses with elevated roadways for all the major roadways around our units.

What is the most challenging aspect of your career as an environmental scientist?

More than once, I have had to remind myself, “You signed up for this, so put a smile on your face and get it done!” Walking in waders to check traps when it is 110 degrees out is not fun. Examining a carcass that has been rotting for a week is not fun. Cleaning up garbage is not fun. However, all of those things are critical for what we do! So put a smile on your face, get it done and get on with it.

Is there a preconception about scientists you would like to dispel?

One of my classmates in college told me that I should switch to microbiology because “there is no future in studying plants or animals.” We need to understand our environment, how we interact with it and the impacts we make. Scientists are not always in a lab – they are out in the field, too. Obviously, I did not agree with his assessment or I would be a microbiologist! The guy that I was talking to felt like, career-wise, the money was in lab work and microbiology rather than fieldwork. Part of me can understand that line of reasoning, as there are more jobs with the medical profession if you target microbiology, but if that is not where your passion is then why would you take that path?

All photos courtesy of Laura Cockrell.