Ryan works as a project manager on the Habitat Enhancement and Water Resources teams bringing to life projects that improve our coastal watersheds and serve the people, ecosystems, and farms of San Mateo County. Ryan's studies in Political Science and Economics at UC Berkeley and Agroecology at UC Santa Cruz provide a good background for working on projects at the crossroads of sustainable agriculture, water resource management, and land stewardship. Ryan has spent his career working on orchards in the Santa Cruz/Watsonville area, as a land manager in the Santa Cruz mountains, and as a project manager for water conservation, streamflow enhancement, and wildfire mitigation projects across Central and Southern California. His work at the RCD includes managing projects for agricultural water storage and irrigation efficiency, fish and wildlife habitat enhancement, and water rights agreements. In the field this looks like building irrigation ponds or tanks, dam removal or fish passage projects, and native plant installations.His favorite part of working at the RCD is helping to restore watershed health along such a beautiful stretch of coastline while learning from the many farmers, ranchers, biologists, ecologists, engineers, foresters, builders, conservationists, and locals (human and non-human) that he gets to work with everyday. When he is not on the job, Ryan enjoys surfing, outrigger canoe paddling, grafting rare fruit trees, finding new varieties for his small chile pepper farm, and spending time exploring the outdoors with his family.