Featured Scientist

Robert conducts a topographical survey of pool habitat on Big Sur River.


Robert and crew snorkel-survey Coho salmon and steelhead habitat use on South Fork Eel River tributary.

Robert Holmes is an Environmental Program Manager supervisor over the Statewide Water Planning Program in CDFW’s Water Branch. Robert leads efforts in the statewide implementation of the Instream Flow Program, sustainable groundwater management, and water rights activities.

Robert has been with the Water Branch for 10 years, and has worked on instream flow, water quality, and aquatic species and habitat assessments for over 20 years for the State of California. Robert is a freshwater biologist and received a Bachelor of Science from CSU Sacramento in Conservation Biology, and a Master of Science from Humboldt State in Natural Resources where his thesis work was on steelhead trout early life history development.

What inspired you to become a scientist?

I spent my childhood playing outdoors and learned a great appreciation for nature early on – exploring catching and identifying frogs, spiders, turtles, snakes and other critters. Basically, science has always been that pathway of learning about the outdoor world for me. I had lots of questions. What kind of spider is that? What kind of bird? What does it eat? Why is it only here in winter? Fast-forward to today and I’m still asking questions about the natural world, when I’m chasing fish to document habitat use and availability, collecting streamflow to determine gains and losses in a stream reach, or evaluating physical habitat suitability data. There are many rivers and places to explore, many questions to answer about the natural world, and much to learn!

What got you interested in working with water - and fish and wildlife?

Recreation! Growing up near the lower American River, I spent a lot time there with friends, riding bikes, swimming, skim boarding and fishing. In high school we would go snowboarding near Castle Peak, and later, whitewater kayaking and wakeboarding local rivers. On several occasions, when spring conditions were right, we would follow the westward flow of water from the summit to valley by hiking and snowboarding the backcountry of Donner Summit, kayaking a class IV stretch of one of the forks of American River, and then wakeboarding the lower Sacramento River. And that’s all in one weekend! I also like to fly fish. There’s nothing like those cold crisp winter mornings when fishing and it’s so cold your line freezes to the rod and you can barely feel your fingers. It’s worth it when you get the tug on your line, or a steelhead does a tail dance across the top of the water after taking your fly, and you pull them in and see that color! Drifting the Feather River or Yuba River for steelhead is fun, but trout fishing the Eastern Sierra is my favorite.

What brought you to CDFW? What inspires you to stay?

I was awarded a grant in graduate school at Humboldt State funded by the CDFW to develop a spawning and stocking program for coastal cutthroat trout in Humboldt County. At the time, I was also the assistant manager of the HSU Fish Hatchery. I formally came to the CDFW Water Branch in 2008 as the Statewide Instream Flow Coordinator. What inspires me and keeps me here is knowing how important the work is we do in developing instream flow criteria and recommendations for the protection and conservation of our fish and wildlife and their habitats. Our work is a critically important piece of information used by decision makers when balancing water needs and demands and determining water allocation schedules. We also have an awesome professional team who shares a solid work ethic, commitment, and passion for their work and meeting the CDFW mission!

What is a typical day like for you at work?

There is no typical day – really! Every instream flow study we work on and every associated river we step our boots in the water is different and presents its own unique challenges. One thing is for sure – there always needs to be a Plan A, and Plan B, and even a Plan C. Doing field studies brings lots of challenges. We have to plan our activities around storm events, rising and receding flow levels, droughts, access agreements, travel times, species periodicities, equipment limitations and so on. At the end of the day, the priority is always crew safety. We have had to call off several scheduled field days due to potentially unsafe conditions for our field crews presented by heavy storms and high streamflows.

What is special about working in instream flow?

Effective riverine resource stewardship and management is generally achieved by integrating science, policy and public involvement. We conduct instream flow studies to determine instream flow needs for fish and wildlife protection. These studies must be technically defensible, consistent with policies and coordinated and vetted in a transparent process. Therefore, success at achieving flow levels for the protection of fish and wildlife and their habitats is heavily reliant on this three-way interaction between the science, policy and public involvement.

What is special about the field of instream flow is that it takes a diverse, technically trained crew to do our job. For example, we have to draw upon all our scientific disciplines to get the job done – biologists, ecologists, hydrologists, water management scientists, engineering geologists, hydraulic engineers and others. I also get the privilege of working on external projects with some of the best and most well respected scientists in the field of instream flows, aquatic ecology and fisheries. Currently we are participating in an effort with hydrologists from UC Davis and other scientists to develop a statewide framework for assessing ecosystem and environmental flow criteria. This effort is really exciting as it has the potential to be very useful for several of our CDFW headquarters and regional program functions that use instream flow criteria for doing their jobs.

What is most challenging aspect of your job?

A commonly heard complaint of instream flow is that it is an issue of “water for fish versus people” and that instream flow practitioners advocate natural conditions in rivers at the expense of other water users. This idea is popular, but misleading, because all water uses – for recreation, for municipal supply, for industry, for fish and wildlife – are ultimately for the benefit and enjoyment of people in one way or another. In the long run, reserving water for instream flow is about the use and enjoyment of the river’s natural resources by future generations. Since these future users of water are not available to express their needs or desires, fish are often used as an indicator of healthy river conditions. So preserving instream flows (and fish) today actually preserves water management options for future generations.

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

Every project is rewarding in different ways. Probably most rewarding from a big picture view is knowing how important the work we do is in the decision making and balancing processes by the State Water Board. It was actually very rewarding to publish a recent study of steelhead habitat selection and availability from the Big Sur River, which was initially approved for publication in North American Journal of Fisheries Management, in our very own Fish and Game Journal’s 100th year “Special Fisheries Issue” (PDF). There was only one chance to publish in this special issue – the next one is another century away! Our team has published multiple papers in several of the top scientific international peer review journals – but being a part of the 100th year of publication special fisheries issue was cool!

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

Understanding the relationship between surface water and groundwater on streams and rivers is really important as it has the potential to affect both the quantity and quality fish and wildlife habitats. Generally speaking, surface water and groundwater systems are connected in most landscapes and streams interact with groundwater in three basic ways: streams gain water from inflow of groundwater through the streambed, streams lose water by outflow through the streambed, or they do both depending upon the location along the stream. Groundwater seepage is vitally important to the hydrologic cycles and for fish and wildlife in California because it is responsible for keeping water in rivers during times of no rainfall (i.e., base flow conditions). I would really like to see more research into understanding these surface water and groundwater relationships on a regional and statewide scale and how this interaction can affect the base flows for fish and wildlife.

What is the best thing about being a fish and wildlife scientist?

The best thing about being a scientist is turning field data into information for decision making processes. Putting on a cold (and still wet) wetsuit in the morning and hopping into ice cold frigid water to survey salmonid habitat use would not be considered fun by many. But the best part is actually being in the water with the fish and observing and recording their behavior in their habitat – specifically observing the microhabitats they select to occupy (or not) and feed or hold, and how they interact among themselves and with other species as they grow and compete for resources – and as flow levels change. After collecting data it is the scientists’ responsibility of turning that observation data into information that natural resource managers, the public, and decision makers can use. Honestly, seeing this whole scientific process through – identifying study questions, study design and planning, implementation and then reporting – is the best part of being a fish and wildlife scientist!

Do you have any advice for people considering careers in science or natural resources?

Get your feet wet! Do internships while in college and try different jobs in the field of your interest. First, you will be able to figure out what is right for you, and maybe what is not. Second, these jobs, whether volunteer or paid, and the associated people you meet and interact with early in your education and career will likely be important as you develop professional relationships and move into a career down the road. And most of all – have fun! Science is important, challenging, rewarding and fun.

CDFW photos. Top photo: Robert conducting snorkel survey of steelhead habitat use on Big Sur River.

Alisa Ellsworth holds a newly-collared bobcat for the Eastern Sierra Bobcat Project.


Alisa Ellsworth and crew working on Fish Slough Ecological Reserve restoration project.

CDFW Senior Environmental Scientist Alisa Ellsworth supervises the Inland Desert Region’s Northern Lands Program. Based out of the Bishop office, Alisa oversees 10 employees who perform a wide variety of activities including land acquisition planning, coordinating mitigation for incidental take, and managing over 120,000 acres of state ecological reserves and wildlife areas in Inyo, Mono and San Bernardino counties.

A Central Valley native, Alisa grew up in Visalia. She attended both undergraduate and graduate school at Fresno State, where she completed a bachelor’s degree in botany in 1993 and a master’s degree in biology in 1995. Her thesis focused on vernal pool ecology in Madera County.

What inspired you to become a biologist?

My interest in science first started in high school when I had to do an insect and plant collection for my biology class. I really enjoyed learning how to identify things in nature. When I started college, I was naturally drawn to biology courses and my path was set. I met a group of people that liked to go out botanizing and birding on the weekends and a whole new world opened up for me.

My first wildlife job was in 1992 with Pacific Southwest Research Station, estimating the density of spotted owls in Sequoia National Park. This is where I learned how to hike at night using a compass and topographic map, as there weren’t GPS units back in those days. The work also involved gathering vital rate data (reproduction and mortality) as well as characterizing diets from regurgitated pellets. In 1993, I spent an amazing summer working for the US Forest Service. I hiked all over the Sierra National Forest, mapping vegetation types and looking for rare plants.

How did you come to work for CDFW?

I worked as a scientific aide for the Habitat Conservation group in the Central Region for a year and a half when I was in college. After I graduated, I began working as a private consultant until 1996 conducting rare plant surveys, wetland delineations and revegetation projects. Around that time, I caught the travel bug and applied for a research assistant position focused on field studies of the guanaco, a South American wild camelid related to the llama. This took me to Torres Del Paine National Park in the Patagonia region of southern Chile, where I worked on guanaco reproductive strategies, spacing strategies and movement. We radio collared young guanacos (called chulengos) and monitored for survival and cause-specific mortality. This involved watching a mother give birth to her baby and then soon after running in and grabbing the baby and quickly putting a radio collar on it. Most of the mothers were pretty mild mannered, but one tried stomping on us and spit all over us, which was quite smelly!

Afterward, I joined the Peace Corps and stayed in Ecuador until 1999, working on environmental education projects in schools. When I returned to the United States, I worked briefly as a consultant again, and then took an associate biologist position with Caltrans in Fresno. When a position opened up in CDFW’s Bishop office, in the streambed alteration agreement program, I jumped at it. I was hired in 2001 and have never wanted to leave Bishop since.

Over my career with CDFW, I have managed the X9B and X9C deer zones, the Owens Valley tule elk zones and the White Mountain bighorn sheep hunt zone. I have collected and analyzed wildlife population data for upland game birds, mule deer, tule elk and Nelson bighorn sheep. I’ve provided harvest recommendations and direction for population management of those game animals. Since 2008, I’ve been with the Lands program, working on acquisition projects, writing grants and working with the Wildlife Conservation Board and other non-governmental organizations on projects of shared interest.

We sometimes say that the Eastern Sierra is “the most beautiful part of California you’ve never seen.” What is unique about this ecosphere?

The Eastern Sierra is comprised of mostly public land with very little development compared to many other areas around California. This allows for intact wildlife populations to exist in vast expanses of native habitat. For example, the federally endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep can be found in the high alpine environment in the summer months. They then move downslope in the winter to take advantage of available food not buried under snow. More than 600 bighorn in 13 occupied herd units can now be found in the Sierras, compared to 1995 when there were only 105 left after being devastated from diseases transmitted from competing domestic livestock in the high alpine meadows.

The sheer beauty of the tall mountains and the abundance of wildlife make it a truly special place. I enjoy hearing the tule elk bugling in the fall evenings near the Owens River. If you really want a treat, you can wake up before the sun rises to go observe the greater sage grouse congregate on their leks (meadows or barren areas with little cover) during the spring breeding season. The males put on quite a display in hopes of attracting a female by puffing out their chest, inflating air sacs and making unique sounds that I equate to drops of water.

What kinds of projects are conducted on the reserves and wildlife areas you manage?

Our activities are quite diverse, including managing water rights and grazing, controlling invasive species and performing various wildlife surveys. I serve as the lead for the Eastern Sierra bobcat study, which was initiated in 2014-2015 as part of a three-year project to assess current populations in Inyo and Mono counties. Specific data collected during the study include bobcat population size, density and age structure, as well as home range size, habitat selection, prey base and reproduction.

I also am also the lead for the low-elevation mesocarnivore survey project. This involves the use of remote cameras to capture detailed images of wildlife species such as bobcat, coyote and gray fox. The surveys help us estimate the percent of the study area that a species of interest occurs by placing one camera within a 10.4 Km cell and surveying 100 cells over multiple weeks. The data collected provides occupancy of the species surveyed. Capture-mark-recapture surveys can be done using this method with species such as bobcats that can be identified because of their unique coat patterns.

Inyo and Mono counties have been divided into eight study areas using geographical boundaries that the mesocarnivore surveys will be rotated through. Initially, these surveys will provide occupancy and abundance of individual species within each study area. Over time, data collected from the surveys can be useful to identify population trends.

What has been the most satisfying part of your CDFW career?

I really enjoy working with outstanding people who are focused on managing and conserving the state’s most important places and wildlife. I’m particularly proud of the conservation work that’s been conducted for the benefit of the Round Valley deer herd. We purchased several important properties within its winter range in Rovana and Swall Meadows, with the goal of protecting an intact migration corridor for them to move up and down in elevation to and from their winter and summer ranges.

What projects would you undertake if you had unlimited money and resources?

I am passionate about conserving natural areas for the perpetuation of healthy ecosystems and the wildlife populations they support. California is an incredibly biologically diverse state and these places are truly unique. By protecting them, we will allow them to be enjoyed generations to come. My most recent focus has been working to conserve the greater sage grouse through land acquisition and conservation easements. Funding all of the proposed actions in the Bi-State Action Plan for Greater sage grouse would be a dream come true.

CDFW photos.
Top photo: Alisa Ellsworth works a Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep capture.

Regina working as a student assistant at the Pesticide Investigations Unit. © Regina Donohoe, all rights reserved.

Regina collects grunion eggs at El Capitan State Beach after a major Santa Barbara oil spill. © Regina Donohoe, all rights reserved.

Crew sampling in Tyvek suits following the Santa Barbara oil spill. © Regina Donohoe, all rights reserved.

Regina Donohoe is an OSPR staff toxicologist working in the Resource Restoration Program. As an ecotoxicologist, she combines the methods of ecology and toxicology to evaluate the effects of pollutants on fish, wildlife and their habitats.

For the past 17 years, Regina has been involved in the remediation of hazardous waste sites, petroleum production facilities and military bases to ensure that chemical contamination is cleaned up to levels that are protective of our natural resources. Regina also provides ecotoxicology support for spill response and assesses the injuries resulting from spills as part of the natural resource damage assessment team.

Regina received a Ph.D. in toxicology from Oregon State University, a M.S. in ecology from San Diego State University and a B.S. in environmental toxicology from the University of California at Davis.

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

One summer day when I was a bored five-year-old, my mom asked me to roam our foothills property and bring back every different kind of leaf I could find. It was a clever mom move to keep me busy all afternoon but it is my earliest memory of being fascinated with nature. However, it wasn’t until I met my high school biology teacher that I knew I wanted to be a scientist. Her classroom was a museum filled with skeletons, shells, plants and aquaria of fish, and that class set me on the path to major in science in college. Later, my graduate school advisors shared their passion for science and kept me going.

What got you interested in working with fish and wildlife?

While trying to decide on an undergraduate major, I took an introduction to environmental toxicology class. The professor told the grisly story of the dancing cats of Minimata Bay, Japan during the 1950s. After mercury-laden wastewater was released into the Bay, the fish accumulated it and when the cats ate the fish, they began to walk erratically (or “dance”) because the mercury poisoned their nervous system. It was an “aha” moment. The fact that a single chemical could disrupt an entire ecosystem intrigued and saddened me at the same time, inspiring me to declare environmental toxicology as my major and the focus of my career.

What brought you to CDFW? What inspires you to stay?

It was 1982 when I took a year-long Student Assistant job at the Pesticide Investigation Unit Laboratory of the then-California Department of Fish and Game. The job duties included “creamer patrol,” picking up dead carp from agricultural drains in the Sacramento Valley for pesticide analysis. On a 100° F day, the fish decayed so quickly that when they were scooped up in the net they often exploded into a creamy mess. Another aspect of the job was to conduct bioassays with fish to determine what levels of pesticides in the water were safe. I left the position to study the effects of sewage discharges on the algal populations of Tijuana estuary, meeting my husband while knee-deep in mud. After that, I researched how chemicals could act like hormones, with environmental estrogens altering reproduction in fish. This led to an ecotoxicologist job at the California Environmental Protection Agency. A friend recommended I apply for a job at OSPR and 17 years later, I returned to where I had started.

What is a typical day like for you at work?

My work moves in a couple of different gears. On the slower gear, a ten-year timeframe, I work on remediation of military bases and hazardous waste sites. For each site, the nature and extent of chemical contamination is characterized, the method and level of cleanup is decided, cleanup occurs and then there is follow-up monitoring. For example, we have removed lead bullets from sand dune firing ranges, metal plating waste from salt marshes and crude oil from grasslands. Throughout the multi-year process for each site, I make many visits, read reports, attend meetings and provide comments related to ecotoxicology.

When spills happen, everything shifts into high gear. I pull together information about the spill, plan and conduct studies and assist wherever help is needed. After the spill response ends, the natural resource damage assessment process continues but at a less frenetic pace. I analyze data, prepare presentations and write up results.

In between, I am involved in training and planning, teaching classes on the effects of oil on ecosystems and reviewing literature to be better prepared for the next spill.

Over the course of your career, was there a discovery or an incident that surprised you?

When we were called to respond to the oil spill in Santa Barbara in 2015, we had to plan for fish sampling one day and carry it out the following day. Usually, it might take a couple of weeks to organize such a sampling event. But people from multiple agencies volunteered their gear and help, others quickly purchased needed supplies, experts flew in to collect tissue samples and folks drove many miles to be there on short notice. The sampling day began early, including gearing up in bulky protective clothing to fish on the beach, and ended with a late night of data intake. Everyone brought a positive attitude and worked hard to get the samples we needed to support the natural resource damage assessment. We achieved a near-impossible task because everyone gave it their all. The power of people working together truly surprised and amazed me.

What do you enjoy most about working in ecotoxicology?

California has incredibly diverse ecosystems – deserts, grasslands, chaparral, forests, rivers, wetlands, estuaries and marine habitat. Spills happen all over California, providing me opportunities to investigate impacts to many plant and animal species in a wide variety of habitats and spill scenarios. For example, I’ve been asked: How does diesel affect an old growth redwood tree? What levels of metals are of concern to California Tiger Salamanders? Is brine harmful to ephemeral streams? How does crude oil impact kelp forests? These questions make me scratch my head and think, and learn new things every day. That, to me, is the best thing about being a scientist.

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

When scientists began to evaluate how oil spills affected ecosystems in the 1970s, they did some interesting laboratory and field studies, but they were limited by the analytical chemistry and assessment methods available at the time. In many cases, oil concentrations in water or tissues were not measured or were simply quantified as total hydrocarbons. Today, we know that oil is a mixture of hundreds to thousands of chemicals that we can quantify at very low levels in the environment. We also have new biochemical and genetic tools that can detect subtle changes in animals in response to oil exposure. It would be great to repeat many of those earlier studies using our current technologies to further our understanding of how oil affects ecosystems, improving our ability to respond to spills and restore habitats following spills.

Do you have any advice for people considering careers in science or natural resources?

Follow that innate scent trail. What makes work seem like play? What keeps you going when you lose the trail? What rewards you at the end of the day? If you have a passion for science or the natural resources, make it your career and be sure to stop and smell all those interesting scents along the way.

Photo © Regina Donohoe, all rights reserved
Top photo: Regina, conducting rocky intertidal monitoring on San Francisco Bay

Wildlife training with a mountain lion at CDFW’s Wildlife Investigations Lab outside of Sacramento.


John climbs redwoods at Hendy Woods State Park in Mendocino County.


Wildlife biologist by day, rock guitarist by night in the band Sticky’s Backyard.


John with wife, Trish, and daughters Phoenix (left) and Sequoia.


Mountain biker John near Lake Almanor.


Snowboarders’ expert runs have the best views

Wildlife biologist John Krause is a 17-year CDFW employee who serves Marin, Alameda and Contra Costa counties. In the heavily populated San Francisco Bay Area, human-wildlife issues often dominate his workday. But his professional pride and joy is the Eden Landing Ecological Reserve near Hayward. John has spent his career overseeing the restoration of 6,400 acres of commercial salt ponds to tidal marsh and other natural habitat while creating access and recreational opportunities for the public.

A native of Carmichael in Sacramento County, John holds a degree in terrestrial plant ecology from UC Davis.

Do you find it ironic that you are a wildlife biologist working in some of the most urbanized communities in the country?

Sure, at times. When I took this job back in 2001, I did not really know how much of the human dimension aspect of things I would be getting into. It’s a regular part of the job, dealing with the public about everything from “Where can I go hunt?” to “I’ve got a problem with a coyote in my backyard.”

How much of your time is spent dealing with human-wildlife conflicts?

It’s every day. A lot of it is depredation-related calls from the public – wild pigs, wild turkeys in the urban-wildlife interface, occasionally deer out in the vineyards causing property damage. There are regular calls about coyotes being perceived as a public safety risk, though coyotes are really more of a risk to domestic animals like cats, small dogs and backyard, free-ranging chickens. The number of these incidents is definitely increasing, primarily because we have open space immediately adjacent to these metropolitan areas. Many of these communities are tucked into the natural landscape so they are inextricably linked to the landscape.

Many people today just don’t have the background or understanding about the behavior of these wild critters. Our general message is to leave these critters be. But when wildlife becomes a nuisance, then it’s time to step up and make an effort to discourage that behavior. That might mean building a coop for your free-range chickens, hazing a coyote out of a neighborhood or thinking carefully about the kind of landscaping you are installing in your yard.

What prompted your interest in science and the outdoors?

I grew up on the American River. I had friends who lived right out there on the bluffs so as kids we were out there all the time biking around and hiking around, swimming in the river, going fishing.

I was a pre-med student originally. I thought I was going to go to professional school to be a dentist. My motivation as a kid was “I’ll be a dentist and I’ll be rich!” But I realized over time that wasn’t for me. I didn’t want to spend my life looking into people’s mouths. So I got into this career by thinking about what it was that I really cared about.

What brought you to CDFW and what inspires you to stay?

I was a biologist for Caltrans for two and a half years before I came to the department. I learned a lot at Caltrans – really useful stuff like reading plans and working with engineers that has served me well over the years with the wetland restoration work I do now. I was out on construction jobs in the Santa Cruz Mountains and there were all these issues coming up with listed species. It was great training. But ultimately, I wanted to work for a conservation agency instead of doing conservation work for a transportation agency.

This job was advertised and I was all over it. Counting deer and elk by helicopter or by driving out to remote areas to survey? Working in and managing wetlands for waterfowl and shorebirds or endangered mice? Counting rails by airboat? Yes, please! The work is really diverse, and I think that’s what keeps me so engaged. And I have this really cool project I get to work on – my legacy project, Eden Landing. I will hand it off to somebody else at some point and they will have a whole career finishing it off.

What is special about the Eden Landing Ecological Reserve?

It’s part of the largest wetlands restoration on the West Coast – 15,100 acres in the South Bay. It’s what I studied in college. Landscape change over time. We are restoring salt ponds to tidal marshes, keeping some managed ponds that birds have come to rely upon. It’s a 50-year project that started in 2003. I’m the guy on the ground working with all of our contractors and partners.

The water birds are the real stars of the show out there. They are the poster species for nature. We manage the ponds for the different seasons and bird species. I will go out and take a dry pond that has been set aside for snowy plover nesting in the spring, flood it up in late summer and watch the bugs come back. And a couple of weeks later the shorebirds show up and are taking advantage of it. And then later in the year we transition from shorebirds to ducks and we start flooding it up a little more for ducks. We’ve got shallower ponds for the dabblers and deeper water for the diving ducks.

Is there public access for birders and others at Eden Landing?

Absolutely. Public access is part of our mandate. We’ve got 4 miles of trails. We’ve got anglers out there. We’ve got kayaking and a kayak launch out there. I started the waterfowl hunting program there and we are just wrapping up our 14th waterfowl season. It’s a success in many ways.

What’s the story behind the waterfowl hunting program? It’s unique in that it is free, for one thing, and you allow hunting on some non-typical shoot days such as Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Hunters have to buy their license and state and federal duck stamps, but they don’t have to buy a lands pass for Eden Landing. San Francisco Bay has a long history and tradition of duck hunting and we wanted to continue that at Eden Landing. When Cargill owned the property, they leased out ponds and hunters built duck blinds and had duck hunting out there for decades. When CDFW took it over, we made it accessible to the public. We now host about 10 hunt days annually.

The South Bay federal wildlife refuges allow hunting on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. I wanted to provide more opportunities for hunters when those wildlife areas are closed so I added shoot days on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We get a lot of local hunters, and we see new hunters every year. Eden is getting pretty well-known in the hunting community, and our averages are pretty good for people coming out and getting birds – better than the wildlife areas and refuges a lot of the time. The hunters really appreciate that their dollars are supporting the restoration and enhancement of Bay-Delta wetlands.

Away from work, where are we likely to find you?

My wife and I have two young girls, 13 and 11. I’m an outdoor sports person. I mountain bike all the time. I go hiking. I love snowboarding. I’ve been snowboarding since 1984 – back before snowboarding was even a thing. I love to travel. My wife and I have been all over the world and have visited countries in Europe, Central America and Africa. More recently, my family has traveled in America, Mexico and Canada.

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

I’m in a band. I play rhythm guitar and sing back-up vocals with friends I met in college. The band is called Sticky’s Backyard – Sticky was the nickname of a guy in Davis and we played our first gig in his backyard. That was 26 years ago, and we are still together. We play all original music. Jam rock is the best way I can describe it. We played the Lucasfilm employee holiday party in December. It’s a fun outlet – scientist by day, rocker by night. Sometimes those days and nights blend together.

John Krause photos
Top photo: John welcomes U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein to the South Bay’s salt ponds in 2010, where native habitat was being restored and public access opened for the first time.

Morgan Knechtle is an environmental scientist with CDFW’s Northern Region in Yreka. He works on the Klamath River Project, which has a primary focus of estimating the return of adult salmon and steelhead to the Klamath and Trinity rivers. He is responsible for multiple field projects that manage salmonids in the Klamath River Basin, such as operating adult salmonid counting stations and coordinating adult spawning ground surveys on the Shasta River, Scott River and Bogus Creek, three highly productive salmonid tributaries to the Klamath River in Siskiyou County. Knechtle also assists with adult recovery efforts, which involve collecting biological information from returning adult salmon at Iron Gate Hatchery, and serves as one of CDFW’s technical representatives for the Klamath Dam Decommissioning Project, which involves the proposed elimination of four hydroelectric dams in northern California and Southern Oregon.

Knechtle earned a Bachelor of Science degree in freshwater fisheries from Humboldt State University and got his first job with CDFW as a scientific aide in the Russian River watershed. He was hired permanently in 2000 and spent four years working on salmonid life cycle monitoring stations on the Mendocino coast. Since 2004, he has worked with salmonids in the Klamath Basin, both on the Trinity River and in the tributaries to the Klamath River in Siskiyou County.

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

My love for rivers inspired me to become a scientist. During college at Humboldt State University, I was spending all of my free time fishing for salmon and steelhead and came to the realization that I could study these animals and make a living working with them.

The ability to be an advocate for fishery resources brought me to CDFW. CDFW is one of the only places a scientist can work with fisheries and truly be an objective voice for the resource. Many other organizations do not have this luxury.

What is a typical day like for you at work?

It depends on the time of year. During the fall and winter when adult salmonids are returning to the Klamath River, my world is extremely busy running and participating in multiple field projects monitoring the return of these amazing species. During the spring and summer, I spend much more time in the office crunching numbers and writing reports.

My Chinook salmon work focuses on providing information that can help accurately forecast abundance. This enables us to provide fishing opportunities while maintaining enough fish in the river for future generations. My coho salmon monitoring work focuses on providing accurate abundance information to track the status and trends of this endangered species over time.

As a technical expert on the Klamath Dam Decommissioning Project, in cooperation with other technical experts from other state and federal agencies, I help minimize effects to aquatic species inhabiting the Klamath River during the decommissioning phase of the project. Additionally, I participate in post-dam removal planning projects, including creating plans on how to implement the Iron Gate Hatchery post dam removal and coordinate with Oregon scientists on the reintroduction of salmon above Iron Gate Dam, with a goal of ensuring the recovery of salmonids and aquatic species above the project area.

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

Although the project is not yet complete, the Klamath Dam Decommissioning Project has the potential to be the most rewarding project I have worked on. It stands to be the largest river restoration project to ever be completed in North America, and given that status, as one can imagine, the project has a lot of moving parts. The potential benefits to salmonids in the Klamath and the improvements to the health of the river itself could be enormous. The long-term predicted improvements to water quality, habitat availability, natural flow dynamics and restoration of natural processes to the Klamath River will improve conditions, for not only anadromous salmon and steelhead but also the rest of the plant and animal community that depend on the river for part or all of their life history.

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

It is extremely challenging when social and political concerns get mixed in with natural resource management. Working with coho salmon in the Klamath Basin has been very challenging due to its listed status and the fact that their abundance is extremely low.

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

With unlimited funding, I would like to track and monitor the recovery of spring Chinook in the upper Klamath River post dam removal. They are nearly extinct and they are thought to once have been the most abundant species in the Klamath River Basin.

What aspect of working on the Klamath River is particularly challenging or rewarding?

Multiple stakeholders -- which include Native American tribes, federal and state trustee agencies, and freshwater and ocean anglers -- in the Klamath Basin make some aspects of salmon management challenging. However, when progress is made to restore the river, it is also extremely rewarding because you know that groups with very different perspectives have come together, negotiated agreement and reached consensus on difficult issues.

What is your favorite species to interact with or study?

Steelhead trout are my favorite species to work with. Steelhead are the most elusive of the Klamath salmonids and their complex life history make them a very difficult species to study. They are also my favorite fish to catch.

Any advice for people considering careers in science or natural resources?

The most obvious is for folks to stay in school and graduate from college. In addition, volunteering and interning in their field of interest early in their education is a benefit to get a taste of what the career might really be like.

CDFW photos of Morgan Knechtle working along the Shasta River.

Josh Bush is an environmental scientist with the Wildlife Management Program in CDFW’s North Central Region. Based in West Sacramento, he is the unit wildlife biologist for Colusa, Lake and Yolo counties. His work includes a multi-herd tule elk project, collared mule deer studies, coordinating the region’s land acquisitions, management of CDFW lands, and numerous resource assessment projects and surveys. He works primarily with elk, deer, bear, dove, pheasant, quail and turkey but dabbles with lions, bank swallows and Swainson’s hawks. His responsibilities include responding to human-wildlife conflicts and providing technical expertise to hunters and the public.

Josh earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, with an emphasis in Wildlife Management, from the University of California, Davis in 2007. He started his CDFW career as a scientific aide in 2005, and worked his way up started his current position in 2011.

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

I have always been inspired by my dad, Mark Bush; my fondest memories are the many hunting and fishing trips we enjoyed together. My dad taught me everything he knew about wildlife, biology and the outdoors. He was a constant backstop for all my questions and never discouraged my asking them. After a long day in the field, I would come home and grab my taxonomy book to ID any animal we did not recognize. Those early trips evolved into an obsession with wildlife and progressed into a need to understand interactions between species and the role each played in the environment.

It was much later in college and after I arrived at CDFW that I learned that, you can apply science to the outdoors to help understand and ultimately help manage and create more of the wildlife that we all enjoy seeing. I strive to do this every day.

What is a typical work day like for you?

The only thing that is typical about my day it that is it is always unpredictable. I work mostly in my three counties but my job takes me all over the 17-county North Central Region. It’s a healthy balance of about 65 percent field work and 35 percent desk work. Field days are often 14-16 hours long with lots of overnights and varied tasks including setting camera traps, rescuing injured wildlife, visiting potential land acquisitions, running survey transects and capturing and collaring study animals. You could find me one day near Clear Lake tracking elk and then the next day in Lake Tahoe darting deer. Public phone calls and answering emails are a big and necessary part of the job. I like to start and end each week by clearing the phones and answering any emails that fieldwork prevented me from getting to. It is especially rewarding talking to hunters who are excited to get try their luck.

What is most challenging about working with wildlife?

The most challenging things are the hours that wildlife keep. I enjoy sleeping at night but wildlife can make that difficult. While I am still up early and out late to do portions of my job, science is evolving and remote cameras and satellite collars have made getting some normal shut-eye a little more possible.

What is your favorite species to interact with or study?

I have a soft spot for all animals but mule deer fascinate me – they are so hardy and able to live out their lives in some incredibly rough environments. There is nothing better than darting a mule deer, watching its migration via satellite and then picking up the collar after it is released. It is especially rewarding when you see an ear-tagged deer you collared years prior, knowing that it is still out there doing its thing.

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

I am currently working on it. I am the lead on a tule elk project in partnership with UC Davis and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The project uses both collars and a non-invasive capture/recapture process that features DNA extracted from elk droppings to determine population levels, among other things, in the herds occupying Lake and Colusa counties. We just started year two of a four-year project but it is already the most rewarding and difficult thing I have worked on. This is the first project I have led and, while it is tough managing all aspects, it is rewarding to see the early results and to work with such dedicated people.

We are currently tracking 38 collared elk via satellite and just completed the first year of fecal-DNA collection, which had myself and UC Davis Ph.D. student Tom Batter hiking the interior Coast Range in 100 degree plus heat picking up elk poop. While not the most glamorous work, it is certainly rewarding!

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

California’s Mediterranean climate is characterized by cold, wet winters, which can result in flooding, and hot dry summers, which can result in fires. My dream is to implement large-scale infrastructure projects that work with the climate-related ecology of California. Specifically, I would like to implement riparian setbacks and large wildland burn units as well as study and document the response from wildlife and the benefit to California. Last winter’s rainfall and flooding, as well as the unfortunate large-scale fires that followed, make these projects all the more important.

The Central Valley has lost a large majority of its riparian habitat since European contact. Riparian setbacks are a truly multi-benefit project. Setbacks could benefit flood control by slowing, sinking and spreading out water. They would also increase habitat for native wildlife and increase recreational opportunities for all. An excellent test case in benefit to recreation and wildlife is the Sacramento River. Above Colusa, the river is dynamic -- it meanders with gravel bars, cut banks and oxbows that are teeming with wildlife diversity. Downstream from Colusa the river is channelized with less habitat, wildlife, recreational opportunities and wildlife diversity.

Wildfire is a part of California, as years of suppression created unhealthy forests with high fuel loads, which lead to high intensity large-scale wildfires. These fires can be detrimental to urban areas, wildlife and wildlife habitat. Wildland burn units – large rotating wildland areas that are burned periodically on a rotational basis – can restore some of these native areas, increase the value to wildlife, habitat heterogeneity and fire safety at the wildland/urban interface.

Any advice for people considering careers in science or natural resources?

My advice is to embrace everything about your potential career. Show up early, leave late, volunteer, network, be available for the jobs others do not want to do. If you are a hunter, get to know the little fuzzy creatures or little brown birds you would normally overlook. If you do not hunt or fish, grab a fishing rod or take a hunter’s safety class and sign up for a CDFW-sponsored hunt. Be well-rounded and let your passion for the job be visible.

CDFW photos of Josh Bush

OSPR’s Jim Hughes and Annie Nelson evaluate an oil spill exercise at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal.


Annie Nelson and Ima Doty on the Schnyder dock in Eureka


Annie Nelson atop Donner Pass, where OSPR has responded to two past pipeline oil spills

Annie Nelson is in her second year as CDFW’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) specialist for best achievable technology, focusing on mechanical oil spill response equipment. She began her career with OSPR as a scientific aid a few months after earning her Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife management from Humboldt State University. She gained permanent employee status as an analyst, working in the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Program. She found it rewarding to witness and coordinate post-spill restoration efforts, but after about seven years, a move to the drills and exercises unit opened the door for her to the world of response preparedness as an environmental scientist. Establishing and fortifying that program took Nelson through the next eight years of her career, before accepting her current position.

What keeps her at OSPR are the wonderful people, the constant learning curve and the many unique opportunities the spill response world provides.

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

In 5th or 6th grade, the cutest boy in my class expressed that science was his favorite subject. That was the spark for me. Once I started exploring science, I realized it was really cool and fun to learn. I enjoyed biology and chemistry during high school and became hooked on understanding how our planet operates – down to the molecular level.

What got you interested in working with wildlife?

My senior year of high school came with the opportunity to participate in the Regional Occupational Program (ROP) and I chose “Animal Careers.” The ROP offered classroom education as well as hands-on experience in your field of choice. When it was time to choose jobsites, most of my fellow classmates in the animal careers course worked with veterinarians. I was fortunate enough to get a spot with Wild Things, Inc., an exotic animal facility near my home. I prepared diets and fed the animals, handled them for educational shows and cleaned up after them. I got to work with a variety of wildlife species, from big cats to primates to birds and reptiles – even a sea lion. When it was time to look at colleges and career opportunities, I combined my love for animals with science and studied wildlife at Humboldt State.

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

My dad encouraged me to pursue a career with the state. CDFW was the first agency that came to mind. I applied for the warden cadet academy, wanting to enforce the laws that protect wildlife in California. Unfortunately, my vision disqualified me. I got my foot in the door with a CDFW scientific aid position in the Office of Spill Prevention and Response. I knew very little about oil spills at the time, but 17 years later I am a senior environmental scientist (specialist). My love for this team and continual learning since my first day on the job has kept me with OSPR.

What is a typical day like for you at work? Please describe a “day in the life.”

I usually spend my early morning hours researching online for any new articles that have come out regarding oil spill technology. My focus is mechanical equipment for containment and recovery, for example: boom, sorbents and skimmers. The goal is to evaluate as many as possible and develop a program for best practices. I also develop workshops. Right now, I’m helping to create an agenda for a workshop that focuses on response to spills of oils called bitumen. Bitumen is the consistency of peanut butter at room temperature and sinks in water, making cleanup difficult. This is an area that hasn’t had much advancement with technology but is a growing concern for responders.

As OSPR’s fisheries closure coordinator, I’m the contact person for calls during the work day from field staff who are either participating in an exercises or responding to actual spills for consultation regarding fishery closures due to oil spills. I gather information to provide the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), the agency that evaluates our information and provides recommendations on whether to close or keep the fishery open. Our agencies work together to determine whether a fisheries closure is necessary, where it will be, and how long it will last during oil spills. Currently, I am working on a presentation to take to our field responders that educates them about this process and their role in it. There is so much to learn, I am never bored!

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

In my second position at OSPR, I joined a brand new team that became the drills and exercises unit. Our role was to ensure that the oil industry in California was prepared to respond to spills. I helped build the program from the ground up, re-writing regulations and evaluating hundreds of response drills and exercises all over the state. Industry soon realized that we meant business and they were quick to comply. Improving spill preparedness through the relationships fostered between OSPR and the oil industry we regulate proved rewarding.

Over the course of your career, was there a discovery or an incident that surprised you?

The most jaw-dropping incident that has occurred during my career was the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The Macondo well head poured more than 3 billion gallons of crude oil into the Gulf from 5,000 feet below the surface. Eleven people lost their lives when the rig blew up, and it took 87 days to cap the well. This still blows my mind to think about. Although I wasn’t one of them, quite of few of my OSPR co-workers responded to the incident. It was a proud moment for the OSPR team to bring experience and resources to the disaster and help.

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

I’ll stick with my current field. I’d love to conduct studies of the wildlife species most commonly injured by oil spills, in order to develop humane but highly effective hazing techniques and technology. In order to avoid mass wildlife casualties, quick containment of a spill is crucial; however, this doesn’t often occur. Hazing is sometimes necessary to keep animals away from the slick, but the effectiveness is hit-or-miss. I’d be interested in developing some new biology-based tools for hazing to reduce the need for rehabilitation (washing), which can be stressful on wildlife and take up resources.

What is the best thing about being a wildlife scientist?

Knowing that my work ultimately protects California’s wildlife from injury during oil spills is pretty great in itself, but my favorite part of the job is working directly with animals. It’s not every day that I get to handle a common murre or a grebe, but I’ve had opportunities to work in the oiled wildlife care facility in Cordelia, which brought me back to my high school days – feeding birds and cleaning cages. These experiences are always a treat.

Any advice for people considering careers in science or natural resources?

I think that career seekers need to ask themselves three questions: What is my passion, what am I good at, and what opportunities are out there? If you can match up at least two of these with your chosen career path, you have a good chance for success. What I love about the fields of science and natural resources is that our planet is always changing. We will never know everything there is to know and there will always be new discoveries and a need for scientists to study, protect and improve our environment.

Top photo: Annie Nelson (right) and Andrea Moore prepare to board a tug and observe an on-water boom deployment in El Segundo.

CDFW photos

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.