Featured Scientist

Coates working on sea cucumber monitoring surveys in 2018 at Anacapa Island, about 11 miles of the coast of Port Hueneme in Ventura County.


Coates’ job involves using statistical analysis to help scientists predict how policy decisions will affect the health of a fishery.


Dive work for CDFW’s Invertebrate Fisheries Management Project.

Staff in CDFW’s Marine Region work to sustainably manage California’s marine resources. Julia Coates, a Marine Region senior environmental scientist, works on quantitative analysis and experimental design projects involving both invertebrate and finfish populations. Her ultimate goal is to produce analyses that can help inform future policy decisions. Much of her work involves predictive modeling—a cutting-edge form of statistical analysis that helps scientists predict how various policy decisions will affect the health of a fishery. With those predictions in hand, scientists can choose the policy decision that most closely aligns with their goals for a fishery.

Coates began her academic training with an undergraduate degree in integrative biology from UC Berkeley. She then completed coursework and gained professional fisheries experience at the University of Washington. Her next stop was San Francisco State, where she earned a master’s degree in biological oceanography. Next came a job doing environmental consulting in San Diego. She then completed a PhD in the joint program between UC Davis, and San Diego State, focusing on pink abalone in Southern California kelp forests. She followed that with a post-doctoral fellowship looking at the relative impacts of water quality and fisheries on the biodiversity of Southern California rocky reefs. In 2014, she was hired by CDFW as an environmental scientist with the Invertebrate Fisheries Management Project. She was promoted to her current position as senior environmental scientist in 2018.

How would you explain statistical modeling to a layperson?

Much of my work involves helping the Marine Region implement a relatively new type of fisheries analysis approach called Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE). MSE is a way to help compare the likely outcomes of different management approaches. It helps answer questions about which approaches are more likely to achieve different goals given uncertainty due to both environmental variability and error in our ability to monitor fisheries and implement management actions. Stock assessment is familiar to many who are involved in fisheries. While stock assessments estimate where a stock is today relative to the past, MSE looks to the future.

Think of it like the simulation testing that’s done to determine the safety of a car or how weather-proof your tent is. The product is tested in a simulation of the real world before it’s actually used in the real world. In our case, we’re simulation testing a management action, like changing a fish’s legal-size limit, before implementing it. We might also simulation test an alternative management action, like a limit on fishing effort, and compare the outcomes of those two options. Imagine we do many simulations, each performed under slightly different environmental conditions. Then our outcome is actually a range of potential future realities that we can describe statistically.

Here’s how it works: We construct a biological model of the fished population. It is basically a series of equations that calculate the number of births and deaths (including harvest) in each time step. We can enter known or closely estimated inputs into the model to produce simulated past harvest and population sizes. When we compare that simulated past to our actual data about the past, and the two are similar, we have reasonably good confidence in our model to describe likely patterns in the future. We then use the model to calculate future fish populations under a particular management approach. An example might be a catch limit that is adjusted based on a fisheries-independent abundance index like an annual survey. Our simulation includes the output of the annual survey, calculates a recommended catch limit, applies that catch limit to the simulated fishing in the next time step, and then the process continues. It’s called closed loop simulation. Where the population ends up tells us if that management approach is likely to lead to a sustainable fishery. Of course, we also track simulated catches along the way to see if it is an economically sound approach.

Before we had the computing power to do these types of simulation experiments, scientists would have to try to do this in real time. That’s basically how fisheries management was done. You do some sort of stock assessment to try to estimate how healthy the stock is. Then you would choose a management action, try it in real time, and wait 10 or 20 years to observe what happens. Then you would decide to continue what you're doing or take another approach. Now we can simulate possible outcomes as well as address questions about how those outcomes might differ under different environmental conditions and how confident we are in the results.  

MSE presents a lot of great opportunities for stakeholders to get involved. Stakeholders often have information that can improve the underlying model. They can also let us know what metrics of fishery performance are most valuable to them. There are often many trade-offs when there are competing interests and stakeholders can have a seat at the table in weighing the options.    

How is your new position different from your previous work as an environmental scientist?

When I started with the Invertebrate Fisheries Management Project as an environmental scientist, I wore a lot of hats and did a lot of policy and day-to-day management in addition to science. The job included interacting with the California Fish and Game Commission and interacting with stakeholders. There was limited time to focus on the science. I enjoyed being in that job for a few years because it put me in a good position to learn more about fisheries management and how policy gets created and implemented. When this opportunity came around to focus exclusively on science, I had to take it. It’s an opportunity to apply my many years of training and improve my quantitative skills.

How do you like your new role?

I love my current position, though I miss the field work in my old job. What I do now is always interesting. There’s way more work to do than I could even scratch the surface of. I’m never bored.

I did a lot of diving when I was working on the Invertebrate Management Project. I became a marine scientist because I love being in the water. I’ve been in the ocean since I was born. I grew up sailing and doing a lot of snorkeling and scuba diving with my dad. I’ve done a ton of scuba research in my career. All of my field research through my PhD was scuba related, as was much of my environmental consulting work. I am still on the Marine Region dive team and get in the water when time allows. I think it’s really important to stay connected to the tangible research we’re doing that impacts our fisheries and wider ecosystems.

It’s my goal to be as effective in my career as I possibly can be. Even though field work is essential to that, I feel I can do more by coming out of the water. I think I can do the most if I stay focused on the science and use the science to inform colleagues in the Marine Region, who can then use the data to inform the policy side.

Do you have any advice to aspiring scientists?

It’s really important to get that first environmental scientist job and to do well in it. You have to not only be comfortable in the field, but also work to be a good writer and have solid analysis skills. I see a lot of young students coming out of bachelor’s or master’s degrees and wondering where they can take their skills in the field of marine biology. Unfortunately, the opportunities can be limited. I encourage people to at least consider going back to school. It does take a long time, and it may not always be necessary. You can get an environmental science job with a range of qualifications. But the PhD level training gave me options for which direction I wanted to go in my career.

I have two kids, and I have a lot of interests outside of work, and I enjoy that balance. But it wasn’t easy to get to this point. I had my daughter halfway through my PhD coursework. My son was born two weeks after I defended my dissertation, and I jumped right into post-doctoral work and commuting long-distances with a newborn at home. Now that they’re older and I’ve been in this position for a while, I’m really happy with the way things settled out. I still get to be a scientist and I still get to be a mom, and I’m really grateful.

CDFW Photos

Featured Scientist Paige Prentice with her dog Yuba.


Paige Prentice with ram captured and collared in the Mojave National Preserve. Click to enlarge


A group of ewes drink from a wildlife water source in the Marble Mountains. This photo was taken by a motion-activated trail camera. Click to enlarge


A photo taken during a helicopter survey shows a ewe and a yearling ram (male bighorn) in the Granite Mountains. Click to enlarge


A group of ewes (female bighorn) with a lamb in Afton Canyon (San Bernardino County) as seen through a spotting scope. Click to enlarge
 

Wildlife biologist Paige Prentice grew up surrounded by trees in Nevada City, California, and knew she had selected the right college when she saw all the redwoods on the campus of UC Santa Cruz. But it was a seasonal job after college in Death Valley National Park that spawned her love of the desert, and today she is a Desert Bighorn Sheep Biologist with CDFW, based in Inyo County. Paige loves learning, evidenced by degrees in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Anthropology at UCSC. Currently, she is working on her master’s degree in Wildlife Science through Oregon State University.

Do you remember when you first became so interested in science you realized it might become your career?

When I was a little kid, I used to tell people that I wanted to study elephants and gorillas. After college I had the opportunity to spend six months studying orangutans on the Island of Borneo in Indonesia. And while that was an awesome once-in-a-lifetime experience, I learned that I wanted to focus on species a little closer to home. Growing up, my folks were the type of people that would drive through deserts and say, “it’s just hot and dry and there’s nothing here.” I believed them, until I was 24 and I got a job in Death Valley as an AmeriCorps intern with the Park Service. It was then that fell in love with the desert. I was mesmerized by the expansive landscapes and amazed by how much life the desert supported. I was hired as a scientific aide with CDFW nearly six years ago when a position opened on the desert bighorn crew.

Why does CDFW dedicate staff to Desert Bighorn Sheep specifically?

Well first, you have to understand that in California we have three separately managed bighorn populations. Two populations are endangered and managed under their own recovery programs—the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep and the peninsular bighorn sheep (San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties). Then, there is the broad grouping of desert bighorn sheep which are not endangered—these are the ones I focus on. Because the two recovery programs have their own focused teams, I think it set a precedent for my position to focus solely on desert bighorn. That said, because there are over 50 mountain ranges with desert bighorn and we’re interested in questions at both the population and metapopulation level, it makes sense to have a desert bighorn sheep specific program.

As a bighorn sheep biologist, what are you studying? What are you looking at when trying to manage that population?

Great question. There is a lot to study, given that we are looking at over 50 distinct populations across a large geographic area that is fragmented by major interstates. On a broad scale, we’re looking at which mountain ranges have bighorn in them, how many animals are in each population and how the populations are connected to one another. We conduct ground, camera, and helicopter surveys to document age and sex ratios and recruitment (lambs surviving to adulthood). We capture and collar animals to track movements, monitor survival and to test for disease. We are interested in what type of diseases are present and what the short- and long-term impacts are. We also have artificial and natural water sources in the desert, and we work with NGOs, like the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep, to makes sure these sources are maintained and stay full of water.

We put out water for these animals?

It is a lot more complicated than “putting water out for them,” but yes, for the last 50 years, CDFW, with the help of NGOs, has built, maintained and repaired artificial water sources in many mountain ranges across the desert. With climate change and prolonged droughts, animals that used to just rely on water sources during the hot summer months are relying on these water sources year-round. Under normal conditions, bighorn sheep get most of the water they need from October to April from the forage that they eat. But during prolonged drought periods, the forage quality is poorer and has less water content, which forces animals to drink surface water. Furthermore, natural springs are drying up and/or becoming less reliable. In many of these ranges, artificial water sources appear to help stabilize these populations during otherwise variable conditions. If climate change continues to drive drought conditions in the desert, these water needs will likely continue and even increase.

What else does the department do to help these populations?

We use the data we collect to protect key movement corridors between populations. This involves working with different land management agencies and stakeholders to provide input and feedback on new projects and installations, such as high-speed trains and alternative energy projects.

In addition, education and outreach is our main tool to help reduce the spread of disease to bighorn populations. One of the biggest threats to bighorn sheep are diseases from domestic livestock, like sheep and goats. Just like with humans, if you have a population that is unexposed to certain diseases, new exposures can have serious effects. Domestic sheep owners can reduce risk to wild populations if their animals are well-fenced and they establish a 10-ft.  buffer to keep wild sheep separate from their domestic animals. It is important for CDFW to develop strong relationships with the public, so they feel like partners in protecting wild bighorn populations. If a domestic sheep escapes into bighorn sheep habitat, the best thing the public can do is to notify CDFW so we can capture the domestic animal quickly.

Aren’t there times we capture sheep as well, shooting nets on them from helicopters?

Yes, we generally capture bighorn using a helicopter with a netgun. Thankfully, we’re not the ones that are flying for captures– we hire professionals for that. We conduct captures in the fall and this past November we captured and collared 100 animals across eight populations. It is a team effort and certainly a lot of work. I think some folks hear about the captures and think, “why capture wild animals?” But in fact, the work we do with captures provides the majority of the data we have to help protect these magnificent creatures.

What is it you like about bighorn sheep?

They completely captivate me. I am aware of very few species that are experts of such extreme environments. Within California, there are desert bighorn that live above 14,000 feet and navigate snow in the wintertime. A hundred miles to the south, there are animals in Death Valley that are living below sea level and are experiencing temperatures of over 125 degrees in the summer. When you track these animals and spend time in the landscapes in which they flourish, you can’t help but respect them. They are also one of the most graceful animals I have ever seen—watching them move with ease, at top speed up mountain sides is stunningly impressive.

What don't we know about bighorn sheep?

There are a lot of things we’re still learning. One of the big questions we're trying to understand is, what drives different responses to the same strain of pneumonia? If we can understand these drivers, perhaps we can help make these populations more robust and less susceptible to disease.

Changing gears a bit, if you weren't doing this, what would you be doing?

I laugh when people ask that. I am the type of person that tries to fit 36 hours into 24. I always have an endless list of things to do, and I rarely sit still—so I’m sure I would keep myself busy. I am an outdoor enthusiast, I love to travel, and I deeply value spending quality time with my family and friends. But career-wise, it is hard to say. Ten years ago, bighorn sheep weren’t even on my radar and now I’m working this dream job. I still consider myself to be an anthropologist. I am intrigued by the world of medicine. I am concerned about the environment. To me, the important part is that I am incredibly grateful for the for the opportunity to be pursuing my master’s degree, while working a job that I am passionate about, with a team that I deeply respect—that’s hard to beat.

Being an outdoor enthusiast, what’s a fun day like for you over in Bishop?

I live my life with the motto: work hard, play hard. Before work this morning, I went for a mountain bike ride. I love hiking and getting in the mountains with my dog. My newest hobbies include kayaking and kitesurfing. I love multi-day rafting trips and exploring new places with friends. If I have an excuse to get outdoors, I’ll take it.

CDFW photos

Whitney at the San Joaquin River by the Friant Dam during a visit with CDFW staff.


Whitney and Christina Sloop during a visit to the Bodega Bay Marine Laboratory.


Whitney learning about the Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon spawning process at the San Joaquin Hatchery.


Whitney with fellow members of the Science Institute team during a strategic planning retreat at Pepperwood Preserve.

Whitney Albright is CDFW’s Climate Change Specialist and member of the department’s Science Institute. Growing up in Houston, where severe storms and hurricanes are common, she had an early fascination with weather. That led to a degree in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma where she was able to take advantage of world-class weather technology and research.

Whitney changed tracks slightly for grad school and studied forestry at the University of Washington, though still with an interest in climate and weather, focusing on the impacts of climate change on trees in the Pacific Northwest. Soon after earning her master’s degree, she saw a job announcement for a climate position with CDFW, and it was a perfect fit. She has been in her current position, based in the Sacramento headquarters since 2013.

What exactly is your role as Climate Change Specialist?

As Climate Change Specialist, I help identify climate change-related risks to the department’s mission and the resources that we manage, and develop strategies, initiatives and projects that will address and minimize those risks going forward. Much of what I do internally is look for opportunities to address climate risks within our various programs and activities and increase cross-program communication about climate change. I also develop and disseminate materials to support and empower staff to incorporate climate science and adaptation strategies into their work, as appropriate.

Another part of my job is working externally with partners. California has many different statewide climate change initiatives which involve various departments and agencies helping inform strategy or action plans. I work alongside other CDFW staff to make sure biodiversity-related issues are well represented in these different venues. One example is the Safeguarding California Plan, our state climate change adaptation strategy, which includes climate adaptation goals and strategies for biodiversity and habitat, among many other sectors. CDFW is responsible for setting these goals every few years, working alongside other agencies.

What is the Science Institute and what is your role in that?

The CDFW Science Institute’s mission is to advance scientific capacity, excellence, integrity, quality, diversity and transparency in support of CDFW’s mission-related decisions, initiatives and programs. This means that our Science Institute team helps elevate our science at the department, support the transparency of that science and our scientists’ efforts, communicate what we are doing both among our own scientific community and externally, and ultimately make sure that the science is usable and is informing our management decisions. Within the Science Institute we have an emphasis on providing scientific support and helping advance biodiversity conservation, climate change resilience and the implementation and update of the State Wildlife Action Plan, a statewide planning tool that guides conservation efforts and brings in a federal funding stream in support. Since these are such cross-cutting issues, spanning across programs and geographical boundaries, our team members coordinate on different projects and work with many scientists throughout the department.

Are you working on any collaborative projects right now?

The Science Institute has created a series of focus teams, or SIFTs (Science Institute Focus Team), which are workgroups that focus on various topics relevant to the department, such as habitat connectivity, scientific literature access, effective use of drones in science, science communication and more. I have the pleasure of leading the Climate Change SIFT, which is a collaborative team of dedicated staff from across the state who are informing the climate science program from their various perspectives on pertinent issues to climate adaptation and resilience. Our mission is to figure out how we can more systematically support staff in their efforts to integrate climate change into their work throughout the department.

One project the Climate Change SIFT worked on this past year was to develop a climate change survey for department staff to gauge their understanding of climate science and adaptation options and better recognize their needs for climate-related data and guidance. The results have been very illuminating and will help inform what we do and what our climate change-related priorities are. For example, we found that many people want access to climate-related trainings, workshops and educational materials. Another recurring theme is people seeking guidance on how to address climate change in CEQA review, comment letters and in the context of permitting. Now that these issues have been identified and emphasized, we will work to come up with tools and information to help.

Any other projects you are working on?

One ongoing project I am very excited about is the establishment of a new network of weather stations on department lands and tidal gauges along the coast. We have been identifying what equipment is needed and where we can place each station. The goal is to build a permanent statewide climate monitoring network coupled with ecological monitoring to help us measure long-term changes in climate on our own lands and waters and identify influences or trends of a changing climate on our lands and, more generally, the state’s biodiversity. These weather stations and tidal gauges are part of a growing public-private partnership under the California Biodiversity Network’s expanding sentinel site system. As part of this partnership, all partners’ data will be jointly managed by UC Berkeley and made available to the public. This project has been fun, propelling me back to where I began, back to meteorological measurements and instrumentation and figuring out how to use that in the context of the department’s mission.

You must deal with a very wide breadth of subject matters. Is there a certain area or topic you enjoy most?

I suppose I have a bit of a soft spot for forestry because that was my background, and it is easier for me to understand the issues affecting forests. One of the things I like most about my job is how varied it is. The department’s work covers so many different issues, and I am continuously learning about everything we do and how climate change is related. On top of that, climate change itself is such a far-reaching issue, touching every habitat type and species. I constantly need to stay on top of the current science and research, which can be fascinating even if somewhat challenging at times!

What are some of your biggest concerns regarding climate change?

The number and intensity of extreme climate events in the last few years, such as drought and wildfire, have brought the urgency of how we respond to the forefront. It is getting harder and harder to ignore climate change in California, particularly the impacts to our beautiful landscapes, biodiverse ecosystems and species, but also our food and water security. These extreme events are projected to become even more frequent and/or intense in the future. They are concerning when viewed as isolated events, but when they start to accumulate and compound it is even harder to find solutions for resilience and recovery. One of the biggest things we are working on is utilizing science to better understand the frequency, size and cumulative effect of these events and find ways to address them.

Would you say you are optimistic or pessimistic going forward?

I am optimistic because we have staff that are so passionate and good at their job. It is easy to be reactive to events and a lot harder to be proactive, but I think there is the will and the expertise in this department to be proactive. It is incredibly rewarding to be working with people who are so dedicated and who want to act on climate change.

Leadership support also makes a difference and is particularly important at the federal, state agency and department levels. We need support from the top to meet this huge challenge that affects everything we do, especially in the long-term. In that respect, the stars have aligned in that there are motivators and motivation to work on addressing this critical issue.

Is there anything specific you want to see happen in the future?

The direction outlined in the Science Institute’s 2021-26 Strategic Action Plan (SISAP) is to work toward climate change being directly integrated into more and more programs and department guidance or policy. This would make it more ingrained and something we inherently consider everywhere it applies. Currently, there is no departmentwide policy on climate change. This is something that we will be working on soon as outlined in the SISAP. We will also be developing and implementing a CDFW biodiversity and climate change response strategy. I am very excited to work on these things, since I think these processes and documents will set a solid foundation from which our staff and others can work to create a more climate-resilient California.

What resources are out there for people to learn more?

There are many resources online. For instance, the South-Central Climate Adaptation Science Center and the University of Oklahoma collaborated on a series of climate change videos available on YouTube which our Office of Training and Development has also made available in LEARN for CDFW employees. The series is made up of short introductory videos that cover everything from how earth’s energy budget works to how climate can be impacted by greenhouse gases, how climate projections are developed, as well as what climate change means for communities, ecosystems, species, etc. It is a cool way to understand the basics of climate change science and its impact across the globe.

CDFW Photos