Practicum

My practicum is with the US Naval Base Ventura County environmental department. I work in the compliance branch, assisting with inspections and with the tank/spill team. I am becoming familiar with Federal, State, County, and DoD regulations and the reality of enforcement that compliments what I'm learning about in policy creation and development in EPM courses. The position is a one-year appointment through the federal PATHWAYS program. 

The use of California native plants when landscaping can be extremely beneficial to native wildlife and water conservation. Important pollinators such as bees and butterflies rely on the resources that these native plants provide. In addition, because they are acclimated to the local climate, native plants often require less water. Many gardeners would like to use native plants in their gardens for these benefits but struggle to find these plants for purchase. There is also confusion on which plants are considered California natives and carry these environmental benefits. 

The Delta Protection Commission is a California state agency that represents the Delta community and advocates for the protection and enhancement of agriculture, recreation, cultural heritage and natural resources in the region.  The Commission is concerned about the financial burden of flood insurance premiums on businesses operating in flood-prone areas of the Delta, particularly those engaged in agritourism development.

For my EPM practicum, I am very excited to be working with the California Department of Food and Agriculture in the Office of Pesticide Consultation and Analysis. Fellow EPM student, David Brodeur, and I are conducting a feasibility study on a statewide program that would utilize vegetative buffers along agricultural fields to help mitigate pesticide drift. Drifting pesticides can travel with wind or water past their intended targets where they may harm individuals at nearby sensitive sites (such as schools, hospitals, daycares, and more).

I am working with the Institute of Transportation Studies who has partnered with the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) to investigate the temporary and longer-lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual mobility and to understand how various policies may affect this new “normal” in terms of modified travel behavior and resulting impacts on equity and the environment. Our study will try to answer the question of whether these behavioral changes from the pandemic will consist over time.

I am working on a project with the California CoastKeeper Alliance to create a digital map to visualize geospatial data of groundwater quality and potential polluters. The end-goal of this project is to create an interactive online map where viewers can see the spatial relationship between groundwater pollution and potential polluters such as dairy farms.  Our team is currently in the process of entering the data into ArcMap, which a geospatial analysis platform through which we will do further analysis as well as creating the online map.

For my practicum I am working with The Nature Conservancy, the largest environmental nonprofit within the United States whose work extends across the globe. My project is assisting the Sacramento branch with their next iteration of the “Toward a Carbon Neutral California: Economic and Climate Benefits of Land Use Interventions” report. Along with my cohorts Anson Justi and Kelsey Haydon, I am conducting an economic analysis of 13 land use strategies that can meaningfully improve the carbon sequestration rates of California’s natural and working lands.

I am completing my practicum with Community Water Center (CWC), where I am the Communications and Data Intern.  CWC is an environmental justice non-profit that works to ensure all Californians have access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water.  For my practicum project, I am designing a handbook for counties to use when creating plans to protect domestic wells during future droughts.