Photo by Alix Soliman.

July 25, 2023

By Jamison Watts, Executive Director

The Santa Lucia Conservancy is excited to welcome conservation ecologist Emma Levy, M.S., to our team. Levy is a biologist and environmental educator with experience in long-term population monitoring. Having grown up in Carmel Valley, she has an intimate knowledge of the wildlife and people that live here, and is passionate about conserving marine and terrestrial ecosystems. 

As the Conservancy’s Conservation Ecologist, Emma Levy works to advance our mission of protecting and stewarding the unique natural and aesthetic resources of the Santa Lucia Preserve in partnership with The Preserve community and the region’s conservation community. She is responsible for leading biological monitoring and environmental research, managing and developing institutional partnerships, engaging in outreach, and helping ensure that land management decisions are based on the best available science.

She earned her B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she focused her studies on marine mammal behavior, sensory systems, and long-term population monitoring. After graduation, she continued as a marine mammal field biologist and worked in several education positions around Monterey Bay, teaching school groups and the public about local marine and wetland ecosystems. Emma has collaborated with many biologists on published scientific studies, including co-authoring a publication on the acoustic signaling and behavior of Antarctic minke whales in the Royal Society Open Science Journal. In 2019, she started a master’s program in biology at Cal Poly Humboldt, investigating the successful breeding range expansion of northern elephant seals into Humboldt County with a specific focus on dispersal behavior. 

Following her graduate work, Levy returned to Santa Cruz to join the California State Parks Interpretation Team at Año Nuevo State Park. At State Parks, she expanded her knowledge of the coastal terrestrial environment, educating the public about northern elephant seals, birds, endangered amphibians and reptiles, and coastal wildflowers.

Please join us in welcoming Emma Levy, M.S., Conservation Ecologist at [email protected].