James Weigand

Jim Weigand is the State Ecologist for the Bureau of Land Management’s California State Office based in Sacramento. Jim earned his MS degree in tropical forestry from the Yale School of the Environment and a PhD from Oregon State University in forest ecology and management. Currently, he works on remote sensing applications, soil surveys for the Salton Sea region, biological soil crust research, and seabird and desert bird monitoring. Most recently, he has started working on restoration efforts to combat environmental impacts to birds (think condors) and other fauna resulting from illegal cannabis cultivation on public lands.

Jim’s involvement professionally in the SJV is to support transboundary bird conservation, regional studies and monitoring projects to track the effects of climate change and public land management on the populations of riparian birds, thrashers, and raptors. Outside the scope of his current job, Jim also advises on Neotropical bird habitat conservation and restoration.

Jim’s favorite California bird habitat in the SJV region is eastern San Diego County at the interface of the Sonoran Desert and the Peninsular Ranges.