Tapped for California fish and game commission, UCSC ecologist wants to invite more voices to the table
Quick Take
If her appointment is approved by the state Senate, UC Santa Cruz ecologist Erika Zavaleta would become the campus’ only faculty member actively serving on a state government commission.
Erika Zavaleta has seen California’s natural resources through many lenses — as a journalist, wilderness ranger and author, and from her current role as a UC Santa Cruz professor of ecology.
Tapped by Gov. Gavin Newsom for the California Fish and Game Commission earlier this month, Zavaleta hopes to draw on that broad background as she joins a five-member panel tasked with a big job: overseeing wildlife conservation across the state. One of her primary goals as she steps onto the commission, Zavaleta said, is to open the door for a wider range of Californians to join the conversation about that subject.