Leadership Team

 

Dr. Adina Merenlender is a Cooperative Extension Specialist at UC Berkeley and is an internationally recognized conservation biologist working on environmental problem solving at the landscape-scale. She has published extensively on the influence of land use on biodiversity. She is dedicated to bridging the gap between conservation science and practice through community led environmental stewardship, education, and citizen science. See more at her website.  

 

 

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Dr. Sabrina Drill Dr. Sabrina Drill is the UCCE Natural Resources Advisor for Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, where she helps communities, non-profits, and government agencies manage and restore aquatic ecosystems, from snorkel surveys for endangered steelhead trout, to working with volunteers to understand fishes and fishing in the LA River. She has worked around the country, as well as in East Africa, helping communities understand and conserve natural resources.

 

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Gregory “Greg” Ira is the CalNat Academic Coordinator involved in the planning, management and operations of the program and its many partnerships. After completing his Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies and Master’s in Asian Studies, he worked for six years in the Philippines integrating conservation into the context of rural development. In Florida, he established statewide environmental education programs for students and teachers and managed sustainable initiatives including the Florida Green Lodging program. His areas of interest include field-based environmental education, volunteer water quality monitoring, tools for addressing culture in environmental programs and strategic program planning.  

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 Brook Gamble enhances the development of the CalNat community through effective communication and program support. She has worked throughout California and Alaska first as a wildlife biologist and later in stakeholder engagement, science communication, and program management roles. She is interested in how a community of practice approach to science communication and education can build capacity to address today's environmental challenges. 

 

 

 

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 Marisa Rodriguez advances new and continuing CalNat programs in southern California through active collaboration with our partnering organizations. Her work expands ongoing efforts to build a more accessible and inclusive program in the region. She is a California Naturalist, Master Gardener, and has worked with a range of environmental education programs in areas such as school gardening, ecological restoration, urban forestry and water conservation in California and New York.  She is interested in further connecting communities to the wonders of California.

 

 

 

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Michelle Hammer Coffer provides all financial services and support to the California Naturalist Program as our business manager. She brings to the job a tremendous amount of fiscal planning and operations experience from her work at UC Davis, before recently joining UC ANR.

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Melissa Figueroa provides part-time administrative support to the California Naturalist Program.