Featured Scientist

Senior Environmental Scientist Kent Laudon is a wolf specialist with CDFW’s Northern Region, based in Redding. As gray wolves recolonize northern California, he is working to conserve and manage them and to work collaboratively with many citizens representing diverse interests. Laudon monitors California’s small wolf population by conducting ground surveys, as well as trapping and collaring wolves. He works with livestock producers on the ground to help deter conflicts, communicates important information about wolves to the public and strives to develop relationships with people and communities that have an interest in wolves.

Laudon earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife, Biology and Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He has worked as a field biologist for 28 years with several state, federal and tribal agencies throughout the western United States, including studying wolves specifically for the last 21 years in Idaho, Montana, Arizona and New Mexico. He started his current position with CDFW about a year ago.

What inspired you to become a scientist?

I was fortunate enough to grow up in Wisconsin in a conservation-minded family that camped, hiked, hunted and fished. Both of my parents were active in conservation organizations. Not surprisingly, I grew up running through the forests, meadows and creeks, for adventure and to learn. It was little wonder that I ended up pursuing a degree in Wildlife and Natural Resources, and while in college, I began to enjoy the more technical aspects of the field. Because of all that, somehow, someway, I have had an amazing career – one I could not have dreamt up in a million years!

What is a typical work day like for you?

While I have been extraordinarily lucky to spend most of my 28-year wildlife career in the field, my career evolution has gravitated more toward working with people in recent years. A lot of the effort and time goes towards building a new wolf management program for CDFW and implementing the Conservation Plan for Gray Wolves in California. Besides creating the administrative “infrastructure,” including processes and protocols for data, public relations, etc., it includes a ton of relationship building. Relationships really begin with reducing barriers and trying to find a place where I may fit within the various communities of wolf stakeholders around California. Because of the high profile and controversial nature of wolves, and especially when the subject is new to people, the work can be extraordinarily difficult. Therefore, I spend a lot of time learning “who’s who” in areas with or likely to have wolves and then meeting and developing relationships with those individuals. Ultimately, deep, long-lasting conservation happens best through people who live and work amongst wolves. That is the long answer for, “I talk to people a lot!”

What is the most interesting aspect of working with wolves?

While the people component is the most important aspect of making wolf conservation work, the wolves themselves are the more interesting aspect. A lot of biologists get into the field because we like the outdoors, and we want to pursue the wildlife adventure to both learn and feel free. Now for me, acquiring data that helps to understand the ecology of the species on a given landscape is what I find most interesting. In addition, there are also necessary steps to that process that are interesting in and of themselves – for example, population surveys in remote mountainous landscapes that includes finding pups to document reproduction, and trapping adults to attach radio collars. All of this takes a methodical process often over 200-mile (or more) areas, and each component of the effort is technically complex.

How do you address the concerns of members of the public who worry that wolves might attack their livestock or pets?

Presently, wolves are new to people in California. All that people really have to refer to is what they read in the newspapers. While newspapers can do a great job of reporting the basic facts of livestock depredation events, they generally do not place those events into a context that includes depredation rates, statistical chances of depredation, and other depredation risk levels under different scenarios. Therefore, I try to give some context to help people better understand the risk of their livestock being attacked by wolves. The other part of that equation is that members of the public teach me about their livestock and their own management practices that work for them. Through such conversations, I hope that together we come to creative solutions to help reduce risk. Pet dogs are a different matter. I just let people know how I manage my own dog in wolf country. My scenario is a little extreme as my dog has worked in the field with me for years in Montana and Idaho – that part can get tricky as I may occasionally have the need to get close to wolf pup-rearing areas and wolves are territorial towards other canids.

Now that wolves have returned to California, how are they interacting with another apex predator, the mountain lion?

It is too early to tell in California how one species may influence the population of the other. However, we know that the two predators at times interact directly by killing each other, and indirectly where, for instance, wolves (like bears) can take over mountain lion kills to scavenge them. One advantage for mountain lions is they are able to climb trees to get out of harm’s way, while wolves cannot.

What is most challenging aspect of your job?

I really see components of the position as a dichotomy: people and wolves. Both are challenging, but of course in very different ways. The sociopolitical aspect is complicated and much of it is about the nuance. On top of that, there really is no “one size fits all” as every community has its own mix of personalities and politics. On the wolf side of things, wolf biologists are typically working in incredibly large landscapes monitoring packs that hold territories covering hundreds of square miles. That means a lot of “needle in a haystack” kind of work. This can be physically challenging, but it is an incredibly interesting pursuit. Either way, whether it is developing relationships and friendships, or finding the wolf in the haystack (I mean needle), both are profoundly rewarding!

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

Easy. I would conduct research to better understand wolf/livestock conflicts and, ultimately, to better deter them. While there has been a good amount of effort directed toward this over the years, it falls far short compared to scientific efforts towards understanding wolf/native ungulate relationships. If we can figure out how to do a better job to reduce wolf damage to private property through the use of a series of deterrent tools and husbandry practices, a lot of us, despite our diversified interests, should be able to get behind both wolves and livestock and maybe finally behind each other. This includes research on various range-rider techniques (a method of riding the range to check on cattle for problems, and potentially moving or working with herds to achieve different objectives including reducing conflicts with wolves), livestock-stocking regimes, creative deterrent tools, and pasture and allotment management. Further, a study of the efficacy of the methods and their economic impacts is also important. I would like to keep everybody moving forward, creating, measuring, analyzing and evolving.

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

First off, people should understand that it is a challenge to successfully achieve a career in fish and wildlife because the competition is stiff. Secondly, while wolves may be an extreme case, often wildlife work is really a lot of people work. Talk to many professionals from a diverse array of positions to get their perspective to help guide your path. It will take a lot of work to get to where you wish to go. Along the way, I believe it imperative to remember that we work for the citizens as managers of the public trust of our remarkable and rich natural resources.

CDFW Photo. Top Photo: The breeding female of the Lassen Pack.

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)