Damian K. Higgins
Research Manager
U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center
I am the Research Manager for U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Ecological Research Center overseeing and supporting our principal investigators as they help answer critical questions for conservation managers and regulators throughout California, Nevada, and the Pacific islands in the areas of landscape ecology, genetics, and species management. Before this, I worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an environmental contaminant specialist managing the agency’s Spill Response and Natural Resource Damage Assessment & Restoration (NRDAR) Program in California and Nevada assessing environmental injuries from oil spills, and successfully securing funding from polluters to restore damage to fish and wildlife from incidents such as such as the Cosco Busan, Refugio Beach, and Huntington Beach Pipeline P00547 spills. I have served on past advisory boards for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the UC Davis Oiled Wildlife Care Network where I brought my conservation management experience and perspectives into the mix of understanding and evaluating complex conservation needs in a sea of competing uses and values.