Our Team

Background

Tidal Influence was founded by Eric Zahn and Taylor Parker in 2008. Eric and Taylor are devout salt marsh ecologists 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 with similar stories and situations. We hope that our team can influence your urban wilderness and help you achieve your lofty conservation missions.

Personnel

Our Team

Eric Zahn, MS
Principal Restoration Ecologist
Email Eric

Marcelo Ceballos Jr.
Restoration Facilities Manager
Email Marcelo

Daniel North
Restoration Programs Manager
Email Daniel

Mark Hannaford
Operations Manager
Email Mark

Hannah Craddock
Monitoring Programs Coordinator
GIS Specialist
Email Hannah

Jayde Bahrami
Restoration Programs Coordinator
Email Jayde

Wanisa Jaikwang
Restoration Field Technician
Email Wanisa

Jesse Aragon
Restoration Field Technician
Email Jesse

Eric is a lifetime Long Beach native and a co-founder of Tidal Influence. He has been the Principal Restoration Ecologist since 2009 and is now the sole owner of the company. He started working in coastal wetlands in 2003 as a graduate student and has shaped this consulting firm's services to feed passion for conservation of coastal habitats and environmental education. Eric also has worked as a lecturer at CSULB from 2006 through 2014, but is now focused on mentoring his Tidal Influence restoration team and starting a family with his wife Laurel, a talented Kelp Forest Ecologist.

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 act's as the Land Manager for the LCWA, manages restoration projects, conducts biological monitoring, and is a licensed pesticide applicator.

Daniel is originally from Riverside County and a graduate of the Biology program at CSULB. He started working with Tidal Influence as a service learning student and became an intern near the end of his undergraduate studies. He has become a crucial part of our team helping to plan and lead all of our community restoration and education programs in his new role as Programs Manager. Daniel also assists Tidal Influence with field technician work at all of our local and regional restoration project sites.

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.

Hannah was born and raised in Lakewood. Her work with Tidal Influence started in 2017 as a wetland restoration intern and later a native plant nursery intern. She graduated in 2018 from California State University, Long Beach with a Bachelors in Organismal Biology and a Minor in Geography. Shortly thereafter, she was awarded a Master of Science in Geographic Information Science from CSULB in 2019. Currently, Hannah coordinates monitoring programs conducted by Tidal Influence and serves as the primary GIS specialist.

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.

Wanisa was born in Thailand, but raised in Hawai’i, Washington, and California. Having traveled so much as a child, she learned to have a natural curiosity for the outdoors and wildlife at a young age. Her interest in wetland restoration began at California State University, Long Beach where she completed her Honors Undergraduate Thesis on wetland restoration trajectory through the Whitcraft Lab. While she was pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Organismal Biology, she started working for Tidal Influence as a service-learning student. Towards the end of her undergraduate studies, she completed her service-leaning hours and became a Tidal Influence intern. Through her time with the company, she now works as one of their Restoration Field Technicians.

Jesse was born and raised in Orange County. Originally not knowing what to study after finishing high school, he began attending Orange Coast College where he would discover an interest in Ecology. He would go on to pursue his Bachelors in Environmental Biology at Cal Poly Pomona where he helped conduct field work for the Coastal Ecology Lab. In 2017, Jesse began working for Tidal Influence as an intern and over time would graduated into his current role as Habitat Restoration Technician. You will often see Jesse’s friendly face out and about on the Zedler Marsh trails working on a variety of restorative task, leading volunteers or education programs.

General Communications:
[email protected]

Business Mailing Address
1340 E. Florida St.
Long Beach, Ca 90802