Julie Zimmerman

Director of Science
Freshwater
[email protected]

Julie Zimmerman is the Director of Science for the Water Program in The Nature Conservancy’s California Chapter. Julie leads the water science team to provide the innovative and sound science that is crucial to design and implement the projects and policies necessary to secure a sustainable water future for people and nature. Julie’s focus is to develop collaborative, science-based approaches to water management, environmental flows, and river restoration in California.

Before joining the Conservancy in California, Julie was a Fish Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and a River Ecologist with the Conservancy’s Connecticut River Program and Chesapeake Bay Program. Julie holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Geography from University of California, Santa Barbara, an M.S. in Ecology from Colorado State University, a Ph.D. in Fisheries from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and an expert certification in Decision Analysis from the National Conservation Training Center. Julie’s research experience ranges from mountain streams in Puerto Rico, trout streams in Minnesota, large rivers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, to rivers throughout California.

What Julie is working on now:

I’m currently working with academic and agency partners to develop ecological flow criteria for every stream in California and a companion framework and associated case studies to guide implementation of instream flows that are protective of aquatic ecosystems. I’m also working on predictions of natural and actual flows in ungaged streams throughout California, making those data available on a webapp for use by agency staff and instream flow practitioners, and analyzing these flow data to provide assessments of flow alteration for streams and rivers and to monitor drought conditions though time.