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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Marcelo was born and raised in Lakewood and started working with Tidal Influence in 2015 as a service learning student at CSULB, while pursuing his bachelors in biology. Upon completion of his service learning hours, he became an Tidal Influence intern and has worked his way up to Associate Restoration Ecologist. Marcelo acts as the Land Manager for the LCWA, manages restoration facilities, manages restoration projects, conducts biological monitoring, and is a licensed pesticide applicator.
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Mark was born and raised in Long Beach and graduated from the University of California, San Diego. He has over 10 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 Operations Manager, helping oversee 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 helped 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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Jayde is from Huntington Beach where she found a love for the only open spaces around her, the ocean and wetlands. While pursuing an Environmental Science & Policy degree at CSULB she became an intern with Tidal Influence in 2016 where her love for coastal habitats grew. Today she finds herself as the Restoration Programs Coordinator helping to plan and lead community restoration and education programs. Jayde also assists with ecological monitoring throughout the Los Cerritos Wetlands and southern California.
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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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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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General Communications:
Info@tidalinfluence.com
Business Mailing Address
2539 E. 7th St.
Long Beach, Ca 90804
Info@tidalinfluence.com
Business Mailing Address
2539 E. 7th St.
Long Beach, Ca 90804