Featured Scientist

Erin gets some hands-on experience working with a San Joaquin kit fox.

Tiny radio collars are affixed to blunt-nosed leopard lizards as part of CDFW’s research into the lizards’ habitat preferences on several San Joaquin Valley ecological reserves where they are found.

Kayaking near Pismo Beach.

Erin participated in a 2014 CDFW Kern County women’s pheasant hunt as part of her ongoing effort to develop her hunting skills.

Erin and her husband, John Wang, enjoy a hike on Santa Cruz Island off the Southern California coast.

CDFW Environmental Scientist Erin Tennant lives and works out of her hometown of Bakersfield. She is assigned to CDFW’s Lands Program, where she assists CDFW’s Central Region in the management of tens of thousands of acres of wildlife habitat in 12 counties in the middle of the state.

Erin holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and environmental studies from Whitman College in Washington and a master’s degree in biology from California State University, Bakersfield, where she studied the Tipton kangaroo rat for her graduate thesis.

What prompted your interest in science and the outdoors?

I became interested just by being young and inquisitive about the natural world. I grew up in suburbia, but I spent a lot of time as a kid working in the garden with my mom. My mom was a second-grade teacher and used to take her classes on annual trips to visit spring wildflowers and, of course, I would join. I also was a horse-crazy kid and thought for a long time that I wanted to be a veterinarian. From about age 10 on, you could definitely find me at the horse barn after school and on weekends. I rode competitively, but I’d also just go out on rides with all my friends through the agricultural fields. I just loved being outside. I had no idea “wildlife biologist” was a career until I entered college and started taking environmental studies courses.

Who or what brought you to CDFW?

I got my start as a biologist when I was home on spring break from college and had a dentist appointment. I was in the waiting room and there was this Smithsonian magazine with a big feature story on the San Joaquin kit fox and all the research work a group called the Endangered Species Recovery Program was doing in Bakersfield. I was just shocked. That was exactly the kind of work I wanted to do and it was happening right here in my hometown. I started Googling all the people in the article and started e-mailing them and asking about internships and other opportunities to just volunteer and help out. It worked. I spent two summers working as an intern for the Endangered Species Recovery Program in Bakersfield and made all kinds of great connections and relationships as a result.

When I graduated from college and eventually returned to Bakersfield, Ellen Cypher, a former CDFW botanist in Fresno, was looking for a scientific aide. She hired me in 2006. I was working for CDFW and at the Endangered Species Recovery Program at the same time until I got a contract position with CDFW in 2007. I was hired permanently as an environmental scientist for the Lands Program in 2011. 

What do you like best about your job?

I really like the diversity. No day is really the same. We’re always working on new projects and have focused on research the last few years. I like to say that our Lands Program in the Central Region straddles many different department priorities – land management, threatened and endangered species conservation, non-game species conservation and even habitat conservation planning. There are endless opportunities available for restoration, research, outreach and even recreation on ecological reserves, which means that there are endless opportunities for professional growth, too. Plus, our unit is always trying to be innovative and adaptive in how we do things. With very limited budgets and personnel and a huge area to cover, this often requires a lot of creativity.

What interesting projects are you working on currently?

One project I have been working on the last three years is the blunt-nosed leopard lizard, which is a federally listed and state listed endangered species. We’re looking at their population size, demographics and space use on our ecological reserves to try to figure out how to better manage the reserves for them.

I have met lots of people who do not like lizards – maybe they think they are ugly and spiny – but blunt-nosed leopard lizards are very charismatic, beautiful lizards. In total length they can be over a foot long and they are active during the day. They especially like the early mornings in the Valley before it gets too hot. They’re really striking in their full breeding colors. Females have bright orange spots and males turn a salmon color throughout their bodies. They’re really fun to watch during the breeding season. 

I also have been working on a statewide Swainson’s hawk survey. We’re gearing up for a big survey year and I’m helping to lead the San Joaquin Valley effort.

What should we know about the Swainson’s hawk?

They’re a state-threatened species, and we’re conducting the first formal population survey in 10 years. It’s a team effort, and we are collaborating with Region 2 and our statewide raptor coordinator, Carie Battistone, to complete the survey. At least in the San Joaquin Valley, it seems like we are seeing more Swainson’s hawks, but we need data to determine if our suspicions are accurate. 

They’re fascinating because they breed throughout Central Valley but they spend their winters in South America, primarily in Argentina. They are readily able to use some of the agricultural areas around the San Joaquin Valley to find food, breed and rear their young. Then they make an incredible migration – they are one of the few raptors to migrate so far. They form these huge groups, called kettles, in the fall, especially in the agricultural fields like alfalfa, and there will be hundreds of these hawks flocking and foraging together in preparation for their migration. It’s amazing to watch.

It sounds like there may be more wildlife and habitat around Bakersfield than the average Californian realizes.

I grew up in Bakersfield, and one of the reasons I wanted to come back here was because I felt drawn to contribute to the conservation of local wildlife around my hometown. Growing up here, you hear a lot about agriculture and how this area is one of the top-producing agricultural areas in the world. But you don’t learn much in school – at least I didn’t – about the native wildlife and their habitats. One thing that struck me during my environmental studies field courses in college was that very few biologists stay in one place long enough to know and understand that place. After going away to college and traveling a ton after graduation, I was ready to come back to Bakersfield and contribute to environmental conservation in my hometown.

I think what’s unique about this area is that it really is a desert and, because of our geography, we have many endemic species. When you get down to the habitats, you see that all the species found here are desert-adapted. We have species such as the Bakersfield cactus, kangaroo rats, blunt-nosed leopard lizards and kit foxes. These are all species also found in places like the Mojave Desert. Desert ecosystems are very fragile and there are so few places around Bakersfield where you can see really what would’ve been – what the San Joaquin Valley would have looked like without development and without agriculture – that I think protecting those places and learning about those places and encouraging other people to get to know those places is really important.

Can you point us to a place where someone might see what the San Joaquin Valley looked like long ago?

One place that I always recommend to visit is the Carrizo Plains – both the Carrizo Plains National Monument and the Carrizo Plains Ecological Reserve. It is a great place to get a glimpse of what the San Joaquin Valley might have looked like historically. It’s a really beautiful place, especially in the spring. In wet years, there are lots of wildflowers to see. There are several overlooks in the area, and I love to go where you can stare down on the valley floor below and imagine what the San Joaquin Valley looked like before agriculture. It’s great to have that area protected.

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

Most people are surprised to learn that I lived in China for two years. After I finished my undergraduate degree, I joined an exchange program through my college and taught English at Northwest Polytechnical University in Xi’an, which is in the center of China. I met my husband there, and after a very long and winding journey, which involved many years of long-distance, we eventually landed in Bakersfield together two years ago. Our family grew this fall with the birth of our son, Kian.

Erin Tennant Photos. Top Photo: Erin holds a great horned owlet that was banded as part of a raptor research project in the Tehachapi Mountains.

Christy prepares for a day’s work underwater at La Jolla.


Christy Juhasz works on an abalone density survey off the northern California coast.

CDFW Environmental Scientist Christy Juhasz works for the Marine Region’s Invertebrate Management Project, where she is primarily responsible for managing California’s Dungeness crab fisheries. Christy coordinates preseason quality and domoic acid testing for the commercial fishery, summarizes seasonal landings data and works on rulemaking proposals for both the commercial and recreational Dungeness fisheries.

A Southern California native, Christy earned a bachelor’s degree in marine biology, with a minor in oceanography, from the University of California, Los Angeles. Soon after graduating, Christy’s first paid position involved monitoring and trapping the invasive European green crab in several northern California bays and estuaries. Afterwards, she began working for CDFW as a scientific aid at the Shellfish Health Laboratory, located at the Bodega Marine Laboratory in Bodega Bay, where she spent several years testing quality control measures of a sabellid, polychaete worm that had been introduced at aquaculture facilities.

In 2007, she became a certified CDFW diver and began assisting in abalone density surveys conducted on the Sonoma and Mendocino coasts. In 2011, she was hired in her current position to work on Dungeness crab fisheries management.

What led you to a career in marine biology?

As a child, I spent an inordinate amount at the coast and particularly enjoyed exploring tidepools. I was always fascinated by the creatures that eke out an existence on the water’s edge, fostering my love of marine invertebrate species. This only grew after taking an invertebrate taxonomy course, becoming certified in scientific diving and volunteering at a small, local marine aquarium while in college where I was able to share my love of native California marine life with the public.

Not many people can say they get to dive as part of their job duties. What’s that like?

Before coming to work at CDFW, most of my diving experience was in the warmer waters of Southern California and the Bahamas for training and research, respectively. Diving in the colder and rougher northern California ocean waters has been interesting. My job has taken me to some beautiful underwater habitat where diverse and colorful kelps, invertebrates and rockfish species abound, while also making me a much better diver.

One interesting CDFW dive location includes the site of Mavericks, although not at the height of the surfing season. We were there to assess the red abalone population within the Marine Protected Area and I was able to observe firsthand the effects of the intense wave action that had eroded away the subtidal rocky reef promontories.

How frequently do you get to dive?

Recently, I had my first child so have not been able to get back underwater as intensely since before I was pregnant. Prior to this, I was an active CDFW diver, primarily assisting with monitoring red abalone populations in the summer months. Diving and field work, in general, are always fun to go out and do in coastal locations, but they do require a lot of planning and preparation. Actual collection of data while SCUBA diving really teaches you to be in the moment, as you have multiple tasks to complete underwater. Obviously safety is paramount and you have to pay attention to the air you consume while you’re working, which ultimately limits the amount time you have underwater.

Today, most of your work relates to Dungeness crab. What do you find interesting about this particular fishery?

The Dungeness crab commercial fishery is one of California’s highest valued fisheries and is also one of the state’s oldest fisheries. In fact, regulations governing take of legal-sized males around a set seasonal period date back to the turn of the 20th century, and are known as the 3-S management principle (sex, size and season). The fishery does widely fluctuate from season to season, but with California landings dating back to just over 100 seasons, there have been no observable, long-term crashes in catch history. In recent seasons, the fishery has experienced some record landings in both management areas of the fishery, especially in the central region, which in the past decades rarely contributed to the majority of statewide landings.

I enjoy and thrive in my job under the dynamic and varying responsibilities and tasks that support the operations of the fishery. Whether I’m working on rulemaking packages, meeting with constituents for various issues or incorporating new or more extensive sampling procedures – it’s all very interesting.

Do you work with species other than Dungeness crab?

Yes. Some of my monitoring and rulemaking work involves other invertebrate fisheries in California, which have been increasing in importance (see link to journal article below). This raises new challenges for fisheries managers, especially considering the many invertebrate fisheries we oversee and the various life history strategies characteristic of each species.

For instance, red urchin and red abalone have to be relatively near one another for successful fertilization after they release their gametes into the water column. This is in contrast to Dungeness crab, which mate during the period when females molt, and brood eggs before they hatch. These differences just reveal how each fishery requires a unique set of regulations to effectively manage them.

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

I have been collaborating with other CDFW staff to monitor the arrival of the Dungeness crab megalopae – that’s the last pelagic, larval stage of crabs before they molt and settle to the bottom as juveniles – to California’s bays and estuaries. The study aims to determine if there is link between their relative number and size, and perhaps predict commercial catch three to four years later, which is about when these crabs would grow into the fishery. Work on this is still preliminary, but in the time we have been observing, we have noticed big differences in total numbers and average size. This may be driven by optimal ocean conditions since the planktonic larval stages spend an average of four months total in the water column during the winter and spring months.

I’m also involved in the rulemaking process for the Dungeness crab commercial fishery. One current development is the creation of a formal statewide program for incentivizing the retrieval of lost and abandoned Dungeness crab traps at the end of each season. The fishery has rules in place such as the use of a destruct device that wears away, to allow escapement and prevent a lost or abandoned trap from continuously capturing organisms. However, traps attached to a buoy with vertical lines in the water column that remain in the water past the season pose additional hazards to marine life and vessel traffic. The industry has been piloting local programs for the past several seasons. A formal program is expected to be in place by the end of the 2018-19 season.

Recent seasons of the Dungeness crab fishery have been plagued by high domoic acid levels and low quality, leading to season delays. How has this changed the nature of your work?

The pre-season quality testing has been conducted for the northern portion of the fishery for many years in concert with Washington and Oregon testing. Although procedures have been modified over the years, the scheduled delays are built into the current operations of the fishery. The fishery cannot be delayed due to quality issues past January 15, whereas with domoic acid season delays are unpredictable.

Our efforts to monitor Dungeness crab are more extensive before the start of the season. Dungeness crab fishermen are key players in this task, as I call and email with them to collect and retrieve samples throughout the fishery’s range statewide (this is similar to how the quality testing is conducted as well). I also coordinate with staff from the California of Department of Public Health to ensure that samples collected are properly received by their laboratory testing facility. During the 2015-16 delayed season, CDFW staff worked tirelessly on this sampling effort while navigating the problem under current regulations and effectively communicating the latest information on the status of the delay and potential opening of the season. This was especially important in light of lost revenue due to the unforeseen delays.

Do you expect that domoic acid will continue to be a problem in future seasons?

Domoic acid is a neurotoxin produced by a unicellular algal organisms that thrive in warm water. The domoic acid problem that caused the severe delay of the 2015-16 season was thought to be a direct effect of the anomalous (unusual) ocean warming from the “warm blob” that developed off of US West Coast in 2014. As these anomalous warming ocean conditions persist, so does the problem of harmful algal blooms that cause domoic acid. This has become a top priority for discussion between industry, the Dungeness crab task force and other affected fisheries and agencies. 

CDFW Photos. Top Photo: Christy measuring a dungeness crab.

For Further Reading:

• 2011 Annual Status of the Fisheries Report – Dungeness crab (PDF)
• Marine Invertebrate Survey and Assessment Project
• The Rise of Invertebrate Fisheries and the Fishing Down of Marine Food Webs in California published in California Fish and Game’s Journal 100th Edition (PDF)