Image
Cynthia Wilkerson is a native Californian and has a B.S. in Conservation Biology from the University of Washington (1998). As an undergraduate, she formed a non-profit research organization in the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia. Cynthia’s Northwest research includes the acoustic behavior of song sparrows, plant ecology, marbled murrelets, and northern goshawks. Cynthia received an M.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida (2001). Her master's research focused on the importance of isolation to temporary wetlands and included field work as well as spatially-implicit modeling. After working on ecological benefits of ranching, Cynthia joined Defenders of Wildlife in 2002 as the California Species Associate. Her current work focuses on reducing conflicts between humans and bears, desert conservation, regional conservation planning, road impacts, and includes conservation of the Channel Island fox, San Joaquin kit fox, desert tortoise, Mohave ground squirrel, and Pacific fisher. Cynthia enjoys hiking, biking, reading, writing, yoga, traveling, cooking, and circus arts.