President

• Kelly Holland
• President<at>tws-west<dot>org

Kelly is a Certified Wildlife Biologist with 20 years of wildlife biology experience conducting ecological monitoring, environmental impact assessment, natural resource planning, and habitat restoration and management throughout the western U.S., northeastern South America, and southern Australia. After receiving her B.A. in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Cruz and working several seasons as a biological technician with the US Forest Service and National Park Service (Lassen Volcanic), she was accepted into the Peace Corps. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Suriname, South America (2000 – 2002), Kelly helped to create an ecological monitoring program for 12,000-ha rainforest reserve, where she co-managed an international research station, provided training in wildlife monitoring, and coordinated research assistants.  Her 2 years of ecological inventory and monitoring formed the basis of her Master’s thesis; she attained her M.S. in Environmental Science at Washington State University, Pullman, in 2003. After this, she spent 4 years at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, conducting ESA consultations, assisting with critical habitat designations and species reviews, and providing technical assistance to minimize impacts on listed species. In her current position Senior Wildlife Biologist at GEI Consultants in Sacramento, Kelly assists clients with navigating state and federal endangered species regulations, including impact analysis, permitting, compliance, and habitat mitigation planning, design, and management.  Kelly enjoys backpacking and camping with her husband and their 2 daughters, tinkering in her garden, dancing, and mountaineering.

President-Elect

• Dan Airola
• PresidentElect<at>tws-west<dot>org

Dan is a Certified Wildlife Biologist and long-time Western Section member who has worked in a variety of capacities in California. He received BA and MS degrees from UC Berkeley and worked for the Lassen National Forest and several major environmental consulting firms in Sacramento as well as operating his own private practice. He has worked extensively in Endangered Species Act and NEPA/CEQA compliance and in preparing management plans for wildland areas. Recently, he served as President of a water resources consulting firm until retirement in 2019. He currently serves as a Director on the boards of several for-profit consulting firms and four non-profit conservation organizations. Dan’s passion has been conducting research, planning, hands-on management, and advocacy to conserve threatened birds and biological communities. He continues to lead long-term, mostly self-funded studies of Purple Martins in Sacramento, Tricolored Blackbirds in the Sierra Nevada foothills, and birds of the urban forests of the Central Valley. He also has published papers on Swainson’s Hawk migration and wintering areas, Turkey Vulture migration and roosting habits, and responses of nesting Bald Eagles to development and human disturbance. In his spare time, he enjoys birding, spending time on his family’s ranch lands in Calaveras County (where he operates a growing nest box program), gardening, and hanging out with his wife and two daughters.

Past-President

• Matthew Bettelheim
• blackfish<at>nasw<dot>org

Matthew received his BS in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution from the University of California, San Diego, and is a Certified Wildlife Biologist, science writer, and natural historian employed by AECOM in Oakland. Amongst his past jobs were positions with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Department of Fish and Game. As a herpetologist, his primary species of interest include the western pond turtle (Clemmys marmorata) and the California legless lizards (Anniella pulchra). An interest in the invertebrate and herpetological fauna of the Antioch Dunes led him to author a children’s book – Sardis and Stamm http://sardisandstamm.wordpress.com/– about the endangered Lange’s metalmark butterfly found there. Matthew’s science writing includes feature articles in Bay Nature, Berkeley Science Review, Inkling Magazine, Earth Island Journal, and Outdoor California, not to mention the inkshed he commits on the pages of his own blog, (bio)accumulation http://bioaccumulation.wordpress.com.

Treasurer

• John McNerney
• JMcNerney<at>cityofdavis<dot>org

John received his B.S. in Wildlife Management from Humboldt State University in 1996. He has since worked various wildlife and natural resource related positions with Nevada State Parks, U.S. Forest Service, California Department of Fish and Game and in private consulting. Since 2001, John has served as the staff wildlife biologist for the City of Davis, California. The position keeps him busy with a full range of duties, including habitat planning and restoration, wildlife and habitat management, CEQA document preparation/ review, and natural resource interpretation. His professional interests include wetlands and grasslands restoration and management. In his spare time John enjoys woodworking, day hikes, camping, backpacking, nature watching and sharing his love for wild areas with his wife, two sons, and two dogs.

Secretary

• Bridget Sousa
• secretary<at>tws-west<dot>org

Bridget is a Wildlife Ecologist with the consulting firm Swaim Biological, Inc. She received her BA from UC Berkeley and her PhD in Biology from the University of Kentucky. She currently works on special status species surveys, post-construction avian monitoring, data management, NEPA/CEQA documentation, HCP/NCCP compliance documentation, environmental analysis and reporting, and targeted conservation planning. She is pictured above in front of a prescribed fire she set as part of her dissertation research in Kansas.

Section Representative

• Kelley Stewart
• kstewart<at>cabnr<dot>unr<dot>edu

Kelley Stewart is an Associate Professor of large mammal ecology at the University of Nevada, Reno.  She received her BS at University of California Davis, her MS at Texas A&M University Kingsville and her PhD at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  Her research focuses on effects of density dependence, reproduction, and nutritional condition of large mammals on movement patterns, resource selection, population dynamics, and community structure.  More recently her research has moved into investigating the links between nutritional condition, endocrine function, and immune function to population demographics. Kelley teaches courses in wildlife ecology at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.  She was named the Teacher of the Year in 2012 by the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources at UNR.  Kelley has been primary advisor for 15 graduate students working on various aspects of ungulate and population ecology, 3 undergraduate honors students, and 2 postdoctoral research associate.

Professional Development Committee

• Janine Payne
• pdc<at>tws-west<dot>org

Communication Content Editor

• Susanne Marczak
• smarczak<at>sandiegozoo<dot>org

Susanne Marczak is the Research Coordinator for the Burrowing Owl Program at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research (ICR). In addition to monitoring the breeding population of western burrowing owls in San Diego County, she is part of the multi-agency effort to establish additional breeding nodes throughout the county via translocation of owls. She has also assisted with research efforts of other species at ICR, including Stephens’ kangaroo rat, Los Angeles pocket mouse, pacific pocket mouse, and Mojave desert tortoise. Her first field job out of university was trapping and tracking giant garter snakes in wetlands and rice fields with the USGS Western Ecological Reseach Center in Dixon, CA.

Susanne graduated from UCLA in 2008 with degrees in Ecology, Behavior & Evolution, B.S., and Economics, B.A. She has served on the  Executive Board of The Southern California Chapter of The Wildlife Society since 2015, and with the Western Section since 2017. She hopes to continue working with western burrowing owls into the future, and to help promote effective research-based management decisions for the species.

Student Affairs Committee

• Katie Smith
• students<at>tws-west<dot>org

Diversity Committee

• Bayan Ahmed
• diversity<at>tws-west<dot>org

Bayan received her B.S. in Wildlife Conservation Biology & Applied Vertebrate Ecology from Humboldt State University. Bayan has been involved with various research studies that have allowed her to work with a number of wildlife species and to obtain versatile skills that she uses in many aspects of her career. She now works for the Department of Water Resources as a Fish and Wildlife Scientific Aid where she helps with field restoration studies. Bayan is also heavily involved with The Wildlife Society Western Section and co-produced the film “Diversify Wildlife” that showcases the importance of diversity in the wildlife field. Bayan hopes to continue pursuing her newfound passion for science communication moving forward in her career along with ecology and taxonomy.

Conservation Affairs Committee Chair

• Kelly Holland
• kafholland<at>gmail<dot>com

Kelly is a Certified Wildlife Biologist with 20 years of wildlife biology experience conducting ecological monitoring, environmental impact assessment, natural resource planning, and habitat restoration and management throughout the western U.S., northeastern South America, and southern Australia. After receiving her B.A. in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Cruz and working several seasons as a biological technician with the US Forest Service and National Park Service (Lassen Volcanic), she was accepted into the Peace Corps. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Suriname, South America (2000 – 2002), Kelly helped to create an ecological monitoring program for 12,000-ha rainforest reserve, where she co-managed an international research station, provided training in wildlife monitoring, and coordinated research assistants.  Her 2 years of ecological inventory and monitoring formed the basis of her Master’s thesis; she attained her M.S. in Environmental Science at Washington State University, Pullman, in 2003. After this, she spent 4 years at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, conducting ESA consultations, assisting with critical habitat designations and species reviews, and providing technical assistance to minimize impacts on listed species. In her current position Senior Wildlife Biologist at GEI Consultants in Sacramento, Kelly assists clients with navigating state and federal endangered species regulations, including impact analysis, permitting, compliance, and habitat mitigation planning, design, and management.  Kelly enjoys backpacking and camping with her husband and their 2 daughters, tinkering in her garden, dancing, and mountaineering.

Awards and Grants

• Richard Burg
• grants<at>tws-west<dot>org

Rich is an Environmental Program Manager with California Department of Fish and Wildlife in San Diego, California. He received his B.S. degree in Wildlife Management from Humboldt State University in 1997 and previously worked at CA Dept. of Parks and Rec and California Department of Transportation. In his spare time, he enjoys sitting on his plank (longboards rule), mountain biking, backpacking, but most enjoyably watching his beautiful children Zoe and Jack grow.

Membership Committee and Historian

• Don Yasuda
• membership<at>tws-west<dot>org

Don is a Certified Wildlife Biologist employed by the U.S. Forest Service and is the Regional Analyst for the national forests in California. He is involved with national forest planning and supports collaborative planning efforts by forests across the state. He also serves as the Chair for the CA Biodiversity Council’s Interagency Alignment Team. He received his B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from U.C. Davis in 1987 and immediately started working for the Forest Service monitoring bald eagles. Don has been a member of TWS since 1995 and is a TWS Fellows. His professional interests are in forest management, fire ecology and management, and collaboration in natural resource management, particularly as it relates to sustainable wildlife habitats. Don enjoys woodworking and dabbles in decoy carving.

Western Wildlife Chair

• Howard Clark
• westernwildlife<at>tws-west<dot>org

Howard is a Certified Wildlife Biologist® with more than 20 years of professional wildlife and research experience. His work as a wildlife consultant focuses on the fauna and ecosystems of Northern, Central, and Southern California, and the Mojave Desert provinces and includes extensive baseline mammalian inventories, surveys focused on rare animals, and habitat assessment. He regularly works with the western burrowing owl, San Joaquin kit fox, giant kangaroo rat, blunt-nosed leopard lizard, and the Mohave ground squirrel. He worked for H. T. Harvey & Associates for 10 years and Garcia and Associates for three years; he now works for Colibri Ecological Consulting. He completed his Master’s degree at CSU Fresno in 2001. His thesis studied the interactions between the endangered San Joaquin kit fox and the non-native red fox in Kern County, CA. Prior to his work as a consultant, he spent 7 years with the Endangered Species Recovery Program as a wildlife biologist. He is an instructor for TWS kit fox and small mammal workshops and was awarded the Raymond F. Dasmann Award for Professional of the Year in 2015 by The Wildlife Society, Western Section. He is the Layout Editor for the Western Section’s new journal Western Wildlife.

Central Coast

• Andrew Domingos
• representative.cccctws<at>gmail<dot>com

Hawaii

• Angela Amlin
• hawaii<at>tws-west<dot>org

Angela Amlin has worked for NOAA Fisheries as the Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Coordinator since 2015. Prior to joining NOAA, Angela worked for the State of Hawaiʻi Division of Forestry and Wildlife focusing on the impacts of alternative energy projects on threatened and endangered seabirds, waterbirds, and bats. She has also worked for the State of California Department of Parks and Recreation, the World Wildlife Fund, and spent many years as an environmental consultant primarily focused on endangered species impact assessment and mitigation planning. Angela received her MEM degree with a concentration in Conservation Science and Policy from Duke University, and her BA in Cultural Anthropology from UC Santa Barbara. She has served as TWS Hawaiʻi Chapter President since 2016, and is currently the Chapter Representative to the Western Section, a position she also held from 2015-2018.

Nevada

• Mitchell Gritts
• mitchellgritts<at>gmail<dot>com

Mitchell Gritts is a programmer-data analyst for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

North Coast

• Elizabeth (Lizzi) Meisman
• northcoast<at>tws-west<dot>org

Lizzi is a Wildlife Biologist working for GHD Inc. on a wide variety of environmental consulting projects. Previously she worked for local timber companies conducting sensitive species surveys. She completed a B.S. in Wildlife Conservation Biology, with a minor in German Studies, from Humboldt State University in 2016. She has done research on habitat use of mesocarnivores, impacts of anthropogenic landscape change on osprey nesting success and nest site selection, and blood parasites in osprey nestlings. She is extremely active in her local community, and contributes to long-term monitoring in the area through volunteering at the Humboldt Bay Bird Observatory. In what little free time she has, she can be found in the woods hunting for birds with her boyfriend and two dogs.

Being a big sister is deeply engrained in her and she strives to help students and early-career professionals whenever possible. She serves on the Western Section Professional Development, Diversity, Conservation Affairs, and the Annual Meeting Planning Committees, as well as the Quiz Bowl at the intergalactic TWS level. She is always eager to share resources and information, so feel free to reach out at any point if you would like to learn more about these committees or our chapter!

Sacramento-Shasta

• Shaughn Galloway
• sacshasta<at>tws-west<dot>org

Shaughn Galloway is a Fish and Wildlife Biologist for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in Yreka, CA where he works with vegetation and fuels management projects impacting protected species. Over the past decade, he has worked for several federal, state, non-profit, and for-profit organizations specializing in birds of prey. His primary interest is in integrating geographic information science with wildlife management to enhance our understanding of these systems. In his free time, he enjoys backpacking, hunting/fishing, skiing, and well really all the “-ings”. He has actively participated in The Wildlife Society since 2014 and became a member of the Sacramento-Shasta Chapter starting in 2016. He looks forward to representing and enhancing our Chapter!

San Francisco Bay Area

• Kathleen Grady
• bayarea<at>tws-west<dot>org

Kathleen Grady is a wildlife biologist based out of San Francisco. She received her BS in Ecology and Evolution from UC Santa Barbara, and after working as a seasonal biologist studying birds for almost 10 years, she went back to school to get her Masters at Sonoma State University. There, she studied bird response to creek restoration on private ranches and dairies. While most of her career has been focused on birds, more recently Kathleen has been enjoying getting more experience with plants and herps — especially the adorable California tiger salamander. Kathleen volunteers as a bander for the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory and remains passionate about maintaining what makes the Bay Area special by optimizing public and private lands for both wildlife and people.

San Joaquin Valley

• Randi McCormick
• sanjoaquin<at>tws-west<dot>org

Randi McCormick received her B.S. in Biology from California State University, Bakersfield in 1990, and has worked in the San Joaquin Valley and surrounding foothills as a consulting biologist for over 25 years. Her work experience outside of the San Joaquin Valley includes seasonal work with the Bureau of Land Management covering the Carrizo Plain, Piute Mountains and southern Sierra Nevada, and at Computer Sciences Corporation on Edwards Air Force Base. As the owner of McCormick Biological, Inc., she mentors staff and directs the efforts of the company, whose focal wildlife species are San Joaquin kit fox, blunt-nosed leopard lizard, Tipton kangaroo rat, Nelson’s antelope squirrel, and giant kangaroo rat. She has worked with San Joaquin kit fox avoidance in the City of Bakersfield since the inception of the Metropolitan Bakersfield HCP, and has prepared documentation for hundreds of projects subject toCEQA/NEPA and CESA/FESA throughout central California. Ms. McCormick believes in learning for life and giving back to the community, fostering programs at her company that provide donation of services to Wind Wolves Preserve, Tejon Ranch Conservancy, Center for Natural Lands Management, and California Living Museum.

Southern California

• Colleen Wisinski
• socal<at>tws-west<dot>org

Colleen Wisinski works at San Diego Zoo Global as a Conservation Program Specialist in Recovery Ecology, where she leads the burrowing owl recovery program. Colleen’s main research focus is the ecology and conservation of burrowing owls in Southern California, particularly of the breeding population of burrowing owls in San Diego County. She is responsible for overseeing the field team, managing and analyzing the data, and working with colleagues to make recommendations about management of the species to local land and wildlife managers. Using direct observations, remote cameras, GPS transmitters, and color banding, she and the team are learning about survival, reproduction, and movement of the owls in the region. The team also uses translocation and conservation breeding to help bolster the burrowing owl population.

Colleen earned her bachelor’s degree in Biology and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, and her master’s degree in Fish and Wildlife Management from Montana State University in Bozeman, where she examined survival and habitat use of greater sage grouse in southwestern Montana. Colleen has also worked as a wildlife rehabilitator where she trained several raptors for educational purposes, and as a whooping crane tracker where she used radio and satellite telemetry to monitor a reintroduced population of cranes. She has been a member of The Wildlife Society since college and has been the Student Affairs Liaison for the Southern California Chapter since 2015. Colleen loves that she gets to work outdoors and be creative to figure out how to answer research questions in the field. Her love for animals and nature grew from her time spent outdoors in the North Woods of Wisconsin.

Humboldt State

• Ellie Grugel
• hsu<at>tws-west<dot>org

Ellie Grugel is a senior at Humboldt State University studying Wildlife Biology with a concentration in Conservation Biology/Applied Vertebrate Ecology. She has always known that she wanted to work with animals and finally had the chance to make that want a reality. In her career, she has had the opportunity to volunteer with both the Sequoia Park Zoo and Oakland Zoo. She has also worked as a field technician and in data entry and prey identification for a research project on barn owls in Napa Valley, CA. She hopes to be able to work as a field technician with mammals, though also has a newly found interest in birds. For her final semester, Ellie is planning on doing a research project on the foraging habits of black-capped chickadees and chestnut-backed chickadees in Northern California. This is her first year as the student representative for HSU chapter Conservation Unlimited and she looks forward to partaking in the TWS organization.

U.C. Davis

• Bruce Markman
• bbmarkman<at>ucdavis<dot>edu

Bruce Markman is a second year Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology major and GIS minor at UC Davis. He has recently interned at the Fangue Lab where he studied biotelemetry to analyze Chinook salmon migration patterns. He has also done fieldwork with the Putah Creek Rotary Screw Trap project and for the Putah Creek Nestbox Highway. His future goals include pursuing graduate school to gain further experience in the wildlife conservation biology field and eventually becoming a professional wildlife biologist. This year, he is the chapter representative of the TWS-WS UC Davis Student Chapter. In his free time, he enjoys backpacking, mountain biking, photography, surfing, and exploring wild areas.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

• Katie Rock
• knrock<at>calpoly<dot>edu

Katie is a 4th year biological sciences major at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She had volunteered in multiple research labs on campus but has come to focus on the Physiological Ecology of Reptiles Lab where she discovered her love for herpetology. In the lab, she captured and collared Blunt Nosed Leopard Lizards for a project studying their thermal ecology. She is now leading a project studying the underrepresentation of women in the Herpetology field and for which she will soon be publishing a paper. She also had a summer fellowship at the San Diego Zoo Institute of Conservation Research where she worked with the Burrowing Owl team to determine whether burrow location and predator pressure impacted nest success. She previously was the president of Cal Poly’s student chapter but wanted to become the TWS representative to get more involved in the organization. She plans on getting a Master’s and working as a professional wildlife biologist.

UC Santa Barbara

• Alhees Basharmal
• alhees<at>ucsb<dot>edu

San Francisco State

TBD

University of Nevada, Reno

• Brianna Jones
• 2dreamdragons<at>sbcglobal<dot>net

Accountant

• Mike Chapel
• mike.chapel<at>yahoo<dot>com

Program Director

• Cynthia Perrine
• perrine.cynthia<at>gmail<dot>com

Cynthia received a B.S. in Environmental Biology from UC, Davis (Go AGS!), and attended CSU, Chico for graduate school. Former employment includes Field Training Biologist Program Coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Game and Education Coordinator for Jepson Herbarium at the Berkeley Natural History Museums. Professional interests include fire ecology, introduced species, and public outreach. Her spare time is spent with family, mostly outdoors.

Project Manager and Meeting Planner

• Candace Renger
• candace.renger<at>gmail<dot>com

Candace is the Project Manager and Meeting Planner for The Western Section. In her free time you will likely find Candace on a mountain peak in the Sierras, rock climbing, mountain biking or gardening in her backyard.

Webmaster

• Eric Renger
• webmaster<at>tws-west<dot>org

Eric is the Western Section Webmaster While working as an embedded software programmer during the day, Eric manages the TWS website during the evenings.

Workshop Coordinator

• Ivan Parr
• workshops<at>tws-west<dot>org

Ivan Parr is the Western Section’s Workshop Coordinator. Ivan loves the idea of promoting education and experience when it comes to understanding wildlife and their habitats. A botanist as well as a wildlife biologist, Ivan spends his (albeit limited) free time searching the Golden state for unique treasures of biodiversity. He is currently trying to compile a photographic index of California’s endemic species.