Pronouns: she/her
Best email: aine.javier@gmail.com
Affiliation: Watershed Stewards Program
Current position: Early career professional
County: Monterey
How will you participate as a mentee: Both in-person and virtually
Going to the 2023 Conference? Yes, in person
How often can you meet? Quarterly
Specializations: Freshwater wetland restoration, GIS, Conservation biology, Environmental compliance/regulatory permitting, Environmental policy, Resource conservation districts
Bio/Interests: In June, I graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a B.S. in Environmental Management and Protection along with minors in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Biology. During my time at Cal Poly, I worked as the Conservation Biology Intern at the Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District (CSLRCD) from the last quarter of my third year until graduation. Working with the CSLRCD for over a year gave me the opportunity to help out and contribute to a number of natural resource conservation projects. These projects ranged from wetland restoration planning and implementation to development of a carbon farm plan for the city of San Luis Obispo to beginning permitting for a project hoping to remediate a DDT contaminated lake and stream. Additionally, I got the opportunity to work alongside State Parks in with the Pismo Dunes Restoration Project which involved seed collection, plant propagation, planting and installation of erosion control measures. Following graduation, I joined the Watershed Stewards Program which is a California Conservation Corps program in partnership with AmeriCorps. Since October, I have been serving with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in Big Sur, helping implement the Coastal Monitoring Program (CMP). The CMP has the goal of assessing the state of salmonid populations. In Big Sur, this means assessing the population of threatened Steelhead Trout by setting up a DIDSON camera and counting the steelhead that migrate up and down the Big Sur River. Additionally, populations are estimated with electrofishing and snorkel surveys on steelhead bearing streams. This position has allowed me to get hands-on field experience along with in office data management and compilation skills.
