Mandy Culpepper Email & Phone Number

Fairfield, California, United States

I am the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) compliance specialist for the Bay Delta Region.

Fairfield, California, United States

I covered environmental review and permitting in Solano County and Marin County.

Sacramento, Ca

As an Environmental Scientist in the Headquarters office of the Timberland Conservation Program, I worked to promote consistency in our program, identify environmental issues with current policy and regulations regarding timber operations, and recommend changes in practice that would positively affect California's fish and wildlife resources.

Sacramento, Ca

As the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) Fish and Wildlife Scientific Aid my main function was to process Incidental Take Permits (ITPs) and Consistency Determinations (CDs), both of which deal with permitting the incidental take of CESA-listed species. Throughout the permitting process, I contacted regional staff, entered relevant data into our Microsoft Access database, updated our general "permits in progress" excel sheet, uploaded finalized documents to our online document library, delivered ITPs to the Office of General Counsel, wrote and delivered public notices related to CDs to the Office of Administrative Law to be published in the California Regulatory Notice Register, attended and took notes during policy meetings, and generally maintained an organized system for the permitting process. I also organized meetings and created agendas for internal meetings, responded to requests for documents and permit data analysis, updated CESA-related internet and intranet pages, and created and edited technical and non-technical documents.

Travis Air Force Base, Ca

I worked as a Wildlife Manager at Travis Air Force Base. This position involved patrolling the runway at sunrise and sunset for bird activity, collecting carcasses from the runway, and remaining on-call throughout the day to monitor bird conditions. When I found birds on, or dangerously close to, the runway, I used a variety of non-lethal tactics to remove the bird hazards. From pyrotechnics to honking my horn, I harassed the problem wildlife until it left the vicinity. I used my knowledge of ecology and the natural history of each species to assess why the animals were attracted to the area and determine whether preventative measures were possible. I left reports for my supervisor on the wildlife activity and called if any birdstrikes occurred. I also collected specimens of birds and bats found on the runway for analysis by the Smithosonian National Museum of Natural History.

Quincy, Ca And Chester, Ca

As a Biological Science Technician I was hired (and re-hired) to assist with a continuing study of California spotted owls in the Plumas National Forest and Lassen National Forest. I solicited owls via a speaker with spotted owl recordings or by replicating their calls with my voice. If an owl was aurally detected, I followed its hooting until I found it. Once the owl was located, I identified it by its color band—if it was banded—and determined its nesting or reproductive status by offering it live mice and recording its behavior with the mice. These mice were kept at the office, and cleaning their cages was another of my duties. I also assisted in banding owls by handling the birds and keeping them calm while my coworker banded them. This position required that I drive a 4-wheel drive truck along unpaved backcountry roads at night. It also necessitated long hikes, a familiarity with topographic maps, and a working knowledge of Garmin GPS units. Data collection involved filling out forms and using a PDA while in the field. Upon returning to the office, I downloaded my data into a Microsoft Access database. In my second season of owl work, I helped train new field technicians with our protocol and taught them how to correctly fill out data forms.

Imperial County And San Diego County, Ca

I assisted a study of avian collisions with power lines along the Sunrise Powerlink Transmission Line Project in Southern California. As part of a three person crew, my duties included walking beneath powerlines in search of avian carcasses, identifying the species of the bird, taking pictures of the incident, and marking the location of the carcass as a GPS waypoint. I also assisted in recording data and entering it onto an Excel spreadsheet. I followed strict safety and research protocols while performing my duties.

Dekalb, Ms

I worked for 4 months in Mississippi trapping rodents in stands of pine trees and switch grass in order to study differences in rodent species diversity and demography. In the beginning of the season myself and 3 team members set up trapping grids and marked trap stations using GPS devices. After placement of Sherman traps in all of the grids, my duties included setting traps with rolled oats at dusk, checking traps at dawn, and processing captured rodents. Processing rodents included identifying rodent species, sexing, weighing, measuring the hind foot, and ear tagging new individuals.I also assisted setting up recording equipment to record rodent vocalizations at night, and I helped measure how well sound traveled in different habitat types.

Zamora, Ca

This position required both field and laboratory duties in order to assess the public health risk of West Nile Virus. In the field, I traversed flooded areas within a human-made wetland and collected mosquito larvae. While collecting, I identified the stage and genus of each mosquito larva. I also set up and collected aquatic invertebrate traps to determine the mosquito larvae predators present in the area. In addition, before the field season ended, I assisted with vegetation quadrat sampling and taking core samples of the soil as part of a study assessing vegetation, water-use, and waterfowl habitat use.The laboratory portion of this position involved using light microscopes and identification keys to determine the species of mosquito larvae, other aquatic invertebrates, and plant species from seed.

Grizzly Island Wildlife Area, Ca

During this position I participated in a study of ducks and the skunks that ate the ducks' young. For the mammal portion of the study I assisted in setting Tomahawk traps at dusk and checking those traps in the morning. I helped process captured skunks by recording measurements and radio collar information. I also assisted in tracking radio-collared individuals via radio telemetry. For the waterfowl component of this study, my duties included driving All Terrain Vehicles through fields searching for duck nests, identifying flushed hens and finding their nests, candling eggs to age them, recording data on nest cover and the surrounding vegetation, and monitoring nests until they hatched out or were abandoned.