California Natural Resources Agency

Petra has worked for the State since 2000, when she started working as a Student Assistant in what was then called Northern District. Now, she works in the Division of Environmental Sciences helping DWR comply with mercury regulations. She enjoys working in the field and plants.

Tristin McHugh, is the North Coast Regional Manager and Restoration Programs Manager for Reef Check California, and is based in Fort Bragg, CA. Tristin received her Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology and Legal Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Following graduation, Tristin led a number of projects spanning the Pacific Northwest, all of which focused on kelp forest ecosystem dynamics and long-term monitoring. Now, Tristin is involved in efforts to understand changes happening in the North Coast of CA by conducting underwater surveys with the Reef Check team, and utilizing that information to work with managers and approach kelp forest restoration efforts.

Melissa earned her BS and MS in Wildlife Management at the University of New Hampshire, and her DVM at the University of California, Davis. She completed Residency and PhD training in Veterinary Pathology at UC Davis, and has worked as a Veterinarian, Pathologist and Research Scientist at the CDFW-OSPR Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center in Santa Cruz since 1999. Melissa’s research focuses centers on health and conservation risks for California’s marine wildlife, especially threatened and endangered species, and animals that are most vulnerable to oil spills. Her areas of research specialization include pathology, infectious disease, land-sea pollution, and marine and freshwater biotoxin.

Anthony Ng supervises the Tech-to-Market unit in the California Energy Commission’s Research and Development Division. The mission of Tech-to-Market is to reduce non-technical barriers that may prevent new clean energy technologies from reaching the market. Anthony oversees a suite of projects focused on providing clean energy entrepreneurs the funding, tools, knowledge and resources needed to advance and scale their technologies. Anthony received a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University California Davis and also served as a Supply Officer in the United States Marine Corps.

Nate Roth is Geographic Information Officer for the California Department of Conservation (DOC). In that role, he leads DOC’s work in applying geospatial data to enhance science-based decision-making. An expert in the field, Nate also collaborates with other government entities and non-governmental organizations to encourage the effective use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and geospatial data. Before coming to DOC, Nate worked for the University of California, Davis as a GIS project lead and programmer. In that role he developed geospatial tools, trained diverse user groups in their use, and supported multiple large interagency data collection, cataloging, and analysis efforts related to land use, transportation, and land and natural resource conservation.

Nathaniel has a Ph.D. and M.A. in Geography from the University of California, Davis as well as a B.S. in Environmental Biology and Management, also from UC Davis.

Alicia Seesholtz has worked for the Department of Water Resources, Division of Environmental Services for 20 years. She joined the Feather River Program in 2001 and while she has worked on several different fish species, her fascination with sturgeon began in 2003.  She currently leads the Feather River Sturgeon Studies and is the Department’s sturgeon specialist/expert.

Dylan Stern is a senior environmental scientist with the Delta Science Program, part of the Delta Stewardship Council, where he has worked since 2015. A proud civil service scientist, he is particularly interested in the complex intersection of water quality, ecology, and water supply in the Delta. Stern holds a master's in environmental science and management from UC Santa Barbara and a bachelor’s in environmental science from California State University, Chico. He was previously an environmental scientist at Tetra Tech and a staff scientist at Bachand & Associates.