Background
Tidal Influence was founded by Eric Zahn and Taylor Parker in 2008. Eric and Taylor are devout conservationists and since its inception Tidal Influence has focused on bringing awareness to the historic Los Cerritos Wetlands complex. This has been achieved both through grassroots conservation and by working closely with local decision makers. With a mixture of consistent public engagement, successful fundraising, creative partnership building, and diligent ecological investigations our company has become a leader in the effort to restore and conserve the environs of the San Gabriel River Estuary. Over the years we have grown in our capacity to serve projects outside of our immediate focus area and we are putting many of our same approaches to work at locations along the coast with similar stories and situations between the Tijuana Estuary and Morro Bay.
We hope that our team can influence your urban wilderness and help you achieve your lofty conservation missions.
Personnel |
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Eric is a lifetime Long Beach native and a co-founder of Tidal Influence. He has been the Principal Restoration Ecologist since the company's inception in 2009. He started working in coastal wetlands in 2003 as a graduate student and since then has worked on restoration design projects for a variety of coastal habitats including salt marsh, dunes, sage scrub, riparian, and seasonal wetlands. His favorite native plant is Ericameria ericoides for obvious reasons. He also has a passion for invasive plant management and specializes in non-native ice plant and sea lavender control. When he is not working, Eric can be found with his wife and 2 children enjoying his personal slice of wilderness at the top of Toro Canyon in Santa Barbara County.
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Laurel was born in Santa Barbara, raised in Monterey, and has now called Long Beach home for longer than she wants to admit. The majority of Laurel’s professional expertise is in kelp forest ecology and as an educator in Marine Biology. She has worked for the Vantuna Research Group at Occidental College in several different roles over the past 15 years and continues to be an active AAUS diver. While she has always been intimately familiar with Tidal Influence’s operations, she recently has taken on a more formal role managing our subtidal habitat restoration projects that are often focused on eelgrass monitoring and restoration. When she is not working, Laurel spends much of her time and energy on the ‘life project’ of building a family home in the Santa Barbara foothills, while also juggling two young children.
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Karina was originally born in Texas, but she made her way to southern California as quickly as possible and has been working in the region for over 20 years. She is a lifelong self-proclaimed science nerd, and enjoys learning new things at every opportunity. Karina’s expertise is in coastal restoration ecology, with a focus on wetlands, beaches, dunes, coastal resilience, and nature-based adaptation. She has planned and implemented coastal habitat restoration projects throughout southern California and is a leader in developing regional scientific monitoring plans, research projects, and policy documents. Karina is also a Board Certified Environmental Scientist and is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner. In 2021, Karina began a PhD program at UCSB and conducts research on ecological and physical trajectories of coastal habitats in southern California. Even when she’s not working, you are still likely to find her on the beach with her family or scuba diving.
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Mark was born and raised in Long Beach and graduated from the University of California, San Diego. He has almost 20 years of experience in financial services, business operations, and project management. After spending many years in a corporate setting, he joined Tidal Influence to help with the logistics and implementation of larger projects. Mark is currently the Chief Operations Officer, overseeing the office, billing, bidding, and project management/implementation. He is also the fiscal manager for the majority of projects. Occasionally you might even see him in the field as he is also the resident expert on mapping and surveying using GPS surveying equipment.
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Megan is a Long Beach native, and first started working with Tidal Influence in 2011 as an intern, then quickly became a Restoration Technician with a Pacific Cordgrass propagation project while pursuing a bachelor's of science in Environmental Studies from UCSB. She assisted with education programs at the lagoon in summer 2013 and came back in 2015 to help with various consulting projects in Long Beach and the restoration programs. Megan worked at the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy for nearly seven years starting in 2016 and returned to Tidal Influence as an Assistant Restoration Ecologist. She holds a M.A. in Biology which provides her experience to inform restoration and land management decisions. Megan focuses her efforts on project management and habitat restoration.
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Neysa was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, leaving only to pursue a BS in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at UC Davis, where she discovered her love of birds and wetlands. She began her career in restoration ecology and wildlife management at Friends of Ballona Wetlands, where she spent nine years working to restore habitats and protect wildlife in and around the Ballona Wetlands. At the Friends’, Neysa achieved a Master of Natural Resources degree at OSU, writing her thesis on maintenance impacts on nesting wetland birds in the Ballona Freshwater Wetlands System. She also managed the Tree Swallow Nest Box and Banding Program for five years, in partnership with Dr. Covino at LMU, and created and led the El Segundo Blue Butterfly Coalition. Neysa joined Tidal Influence in 2024 with hopes of using her experience in project management, collaboration, restoration, and research to protect endangered species and restore sensitive ecosystems throughout California, especially in urban areas.
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Christian is a Wilmington local and graduated with a degree in Marine Biology from CSULB. During his time in college, Christian discovered the Los Cerritos Wetlands from a Wetland Ecology class field trip which led to a summer internship with Tidal Influence. Christian plans and leads community educational and restoration programs, assists in ecological monitoring, and conducts biological surveys for a variety of projects in Southern California. In his spare time, Christian enjoys trail running, swimming at the beach and the occasional stroll at a garden. Christian cherishes ecological sanctuaries and hopes to become a spatial analyst to optimize natural public settings.
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Sebastian developed a deep appreciation for California’s diverse ecosystems growing up between the San Gabriel Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. After graduating from UCLA with a biology degree in 2022, he joined Tidal Influence, where he has steadily advanced his career as an ecologist, honing his biological monitoring skills while working with multiple special status species. As Restoration Facilities Manager and Land Manager for the Los Cerritos Wetlands, he oversees restoration projects, leads field crews, spearheads native plant nursery efforts and landscaping, and leads public restoration events and community education. In his free time, Sebastian enjoys making a mean cup of coffee and going on a nice hike.
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Kevin is from Los Angeles, where his proximity to the Ballona Wetlands and the ocean inspired a love of wetlands and coastal habitats during his childhood. In 2019, Kevin received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Occidental College. He has since worked as a seasonal field technician and biologist for various organizations, restoring critical habitats and surveying native plants and animals across California and Washington. Kevin joined Tidal Influence in 2023 as a Staff Biologist before becoming Restoration Programs Manager. He is an avid hiker and birder and enjoys seeing new species for the first time.
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Trenton is a Seal Beach native and graduated in Earth System Science from UC Irvine. Growing up by the ocean near the mouth of the San Gabriel River, he values marine life and coastal habitats. Trent has volunteered to aid native plant restoration of wetlands for the Bolsa Chica Conservancy. He also assists the UCI Nature nursery and UCI’s DroughtNet restoration experiment. His appreciation for the connection between the community and land has evolved through his years in BSA Scouting and the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Trent is a NAUI certified scuba diver and enjoys the water during his spare time.
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Daniella was raised in Huntington Beach. She grew up surfing at the beach and developed a great appreciation for coastal ecosystems. In college, she found her love of ecology and especially wetlands. While pursuing a bachelors degree in Organismal Biology and Environmental Science and Policy at CSULB, she was also an undergraduate research assistant in the Wetland Ecology Lab. She first interned at Tidal Influence in the Fall of 2019 and then became a service learner for her conservation biology course. After graduating, Daniella became a Restoration Field Technician. She really enjoys educating the public about wetlands and native habitats, conducting biological monitoring, and getting to work in the mud.
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Samantha Serna
Restoration Technician |
Samantha is originally from Fontana and pursued a degree in Animal Science, with a minor in Zoology at Cal Poly Pomona. After doing various research projects based in sustainability, Samantha became more interested in the environmental interactions between animals, plants, and especially humans. Once Samantha graduated, she started as an intern with Tidal Influence which soon led to becoming a Restoration Technician, where she gets to grow plants in our nursery, conduct biological monitoring, and learn a variety of new species. In her free time, she enjoys hiking local trails while herping for snakes and lizards all around California.
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Cannon Hanson
Restoration Technician |
Cannon was born and raised in Orange County. He graduated from California State University Long Beach with a degree in Environmental Policy and a minor in American Indian Studies. During his time there he started the club Re:Wild CSULB as a branch of the ReWildYourCampus organization whose goal is to increase native habitat and biodiversity on college campuses while reducing the usage of synthetic pesticides. Cannon started working as an intern for Tidal Influence in May 2024 and was hired as a Restoration Technician shortly after. He enjoys backpacking, eating native plants, and designing native plant gardens for friends and family with his girlfriend.
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Kaylee Kim
Restoration Technician |
Kaylee, a Long Beach native, developed a passion for plants and wetlands while earning her degree in Environmental Systems - Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution at UC San Diego. During her time in college, she completed an internship with the UC Natural Reserve System where she gained experience in identifying plant species and conducting fieldwork in various ecosystems, including coastal sage scrubs, chaparrals, and wetlands. After graduating, Kaylee became acquainted with the Los Cerritos Wetlands through a restoration event and joined the Tidal Influence team as an intern before becoming a Restoration Technician. Kaylee enjoys learning new plant species, hiking, and visiting gardens.
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