Emily Patterson

STRAW Restoration Technician

As a STRAW Restoration Technician, I work in the North Bay alongside my team of amazing techs, apprentices, volunteers, and k-12 students and teachers. My role consists of maintaining and restoring wildlife habitat in Sonoma and Marin counties on public and private land.

Restorations of these areas incorporate environmental education experiences with k-12 students from schools in the Bay Area. We work to connect students to the land they live on and near, and we aim to inspire the next generation of conservation scientists and environmentalists. During the Summer maintenance season, I work to nurture the planting sites that our students and staff caringly planted.

In 2022, I completed a B.S in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology from UC Davis. During my time at the university, I contributed to projects studying the effects of climate change and other anthropogenic effects on anadromous fish species such as green sturgeon and Chinook salmon. After graduation, I immediately jumped into remote field research focused on re-censusing amphibian and reptile populations in the Trinity Alps wilderness, Marble Mountains Wilderness, and Russian Wilderness areas. After that season, I returned to UC Davis to work as a JR Specialist in a fisheries biology lab studying the anadromous fish of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region. I began working for Point Blue in August 2023 as a Restoration Technician, and I am excited to continue growing at this organization!

Nowadays, I am based out of Cotati, and I spend my leisure time hiking around Pt Reyes, flipping rocks and logs for herpetofauna, white water rafting, and creating art inspired by nature.

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