About Becca's Work
With the support that she received from the Switzer Foundation, Becca recieved her Master's of Science degree in Fisheries Biology from Humboldt State University in May of 2003. She worked as a fisheries biologist for the Klamath National Forest from 2001 to 2012. Her primary duties were to collect and analyze habitat quality and population abundance estimates for salmon and trout in the Klamath basin. In 2005, she was award a Switzer Leadership Grant to study cichlid fishes in Chiapas, Mexico. This work resulted in the designation of protected areas and changed to fisheries practices within the El Ocote Reserve. In 2006, she returned to academia for a Doctural Degree (graduated summer 2011) in Conservation Ecology at the University of California - Davis. She is now a postdoctural researcher at the univesity, studying the effects of climate change on aquatic habitats and fishes in California. Most of her time is spent analyzing the status of fishes in the state and making management recommendations to prevent the extinction of imperiled species.