Scott Butterfield

Lead Scientist
Terrestrial
[email protected]

In The Nature Conservancy’s California Chapter, Scott is the Lead Scientist for the Strategic Restoration Strategy in the San Joaquin Valley, Science Lead for the Rangeland Management Team at the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve, TNC’s Lead for participation as a Managing Partner at the Carrizo Plain National Monument, Lead Scientist for the Protection Strategy, and the co-Lead for the development and application of RDMapper, TNC-CA’s remote sensing-based monitoring tool. Scott leads a San Joaquin Desert research team made up of university, agency, and NGO scientists, focused on addressing recovery goals for threatened and endangered species like blunt-nosed leopard lizard, giant kangaroo rat, and San Joaquin kit fox.

Scott holds a Ph.D. in Plant Biology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior from Michigan State University where he studied the application of remote sensing and other geospatial technologies to rangeland management and monitoring, and also their effect on and usage by the California rancher and range management community.

What Scott is working on now:

We recently launched four new science enterprises in the Land Program, including working with collaborators from 1) UCLA to use genomics to inform protection, management, and restoration of blue and coast live oaks across TNCs ~400k-acre grassland and oak woodland conservation estate in the face of climate change, 2) San Diego St. University to use new remote sensing tools, including Lidar sensors mounted on drones, to track real-time forage production across our grazed estate, 3) Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Bureau of Land Management to use wildlife cameras, TNCs wildlife camera platform, Animl, and machine learning to evaluate the impact of adding year-round free-standing water and removing or retrofitting fences across more than 100k acres on pronghorn populations in southern California (Water for Wildlife), and 4) Carrizo Ranch, a neighbor of TNCs newest grassland and oak woodland preserve, the Las Piletas Ranch, to test how we can use new virtual fencing technologies to achieve conservation outcomes from targeted grazing. In the Water Program, we launched a pilot strategic restoration project at Capinero Creek in Tulare County, and are beginning to demonstrate how to restore San Joaquin Desert habitat across retired farmlands in ways that are cost effective and done in collaboration with local partners, including the Tule Basin Land and Water Conservation Trust, and communities.


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2024 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Climatically robust multiscale species distribution models to support pronghorn recovery in California

William T. Bean, H. Scott Butterfield, Jeanette K. Howard, Thomas J. Batter

In this paper, the authors used a variety of habitat suitability modeling approaches to begin to understand where pronghorn may exist in the future in California under different climate change…

2024 | Terrestrial | Marine | Science | Publications & Reports

Spatial Patterns of Vegetation Change in a Fire-Suppressed Coastal California Landscape

Lucy Genua, Brad Anderson, Meghan Bowen, Genelle Ives, Owen Liu, Thomas Paschos, H. Scott Butterfield, Kelly Easterday, Mark Reynolds, James H. Thorne

In this paper, the authors used historical vegetation data, from both aerial photographs and field transects, to assess the change in major vegetation types at the Dangermond Preserve over the last…

2023 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Contrasting management paradigms for pronghorn in the arid Southwest and their northern range: a review

William T. Bean, H. Scott Butterfield, Craig Fiehler, David Hacker, Jeanette K. Howard, Russell Namitz, Brandon Swanson, Thomas J. Batter

TNC launched a Water for Wildlife project motivated by understanding the importance of standing free water across the season for wildlife in general, but most importantly for those species sensitive…

2023 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Shrub density effects on the presence of an endangered lizard of the Carrizo Plain National Monument, California

Mario Zuliani, Nargol Ghazian, Malory Owen, Michael F. Westphal, H. Scott Butterfield, Christopher J. Lortie

As The Nature Conservancy embarks on restoration planning for its Strategic Restoration Strategy, it needs detailed information on the importance of shrubs to a suite of conservation targets,…

2023 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Cattle Grazing Across The Nature Conservancy in California’s Conservation Estate

Butterfield, H.S., J. Howard, Z. Principe, E. Inlander, S. Sweet, A. Craig, R. Mason, J. Knapp , M. Katkowski

For over 300 years, cattle and sheep have been grazed in California, from the Rancho era continuing to the present day. The Nature Conservancy has a long history in California and across the western…

2022 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Foundation plant species provide resilience and microclimatic heterogeneity in drylands

Chris J. Lortie, Alex Fillazola, Mike Westphal, H. Scott Butterfield

Drylands globally, and those plant and animal species in these systems, face increasing challenges from extreme drought. In California, the most recent megadrought allowed us to document for native…

2022 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Predictive ecological land classification from multi-decadal satellite imagery

Daniel Sousa, Frank W. Davis, Kelly Easterday, Mark Reynolds, Laura Riege, H. Scott Butterfield, Moses Katkowski

This paper details a first of its kind approach to land classification, using random forests and multivariate regression trees and historical Landsat satellite imagery to map and then assess changes…

2022 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Publications & Reports

Restoration richness tipping point meta-analysis: finding the sweet spot

Christopher J. Lortie, Maria Florencia Miguel, Alessandro Filazzola, Harry Scott Butterfield

Climate change, drought, and water scarcity are driving major land transformations in dryland ecosystems globally. Historically these ecosystems have been disproportionately degraded due to widespread…

2021 | Terrestrial | Marine | Planning | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve Invasive Plant Species Action Plan

Moses Katkowski, H. Scott Butterfield, John Knapp, Kelly Easterday, Laura Riege, Mark Reynolds

This 5-year action plan describes the vision for invasive plant species mapping, monitoring and treatment at the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve in Sourthern California. The plan is adaptive and…

2021 | Terrestrial | Planning | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Combining Occurrence and Habitat Suitability Data Improve Conservation Guidance for the Giant Kangaroo Rat

Alyssa E. Semerdjian, H. Scott Butterfield, Robert Stafford, Michael F. Westphal, William T. Bean

This paper in the Journal of Wildlife Management combines nearly 20 years of remote sensing, field/trapping, and modeling data to develop a new approach to the identification and prioritization of…

2021 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Facilitation promotes plant invasions and indirect negative interactions

Christopher J. Lortie, Alessandro Filazzola, Charlotte Brown, Jacob Lucero, Mario Zuliani, Nargol Ghazian, Stephanie Haas, Malory Owen, H. Scott Butterfield, Emmeleia Nix, Michael Westphal

There are many pressures that influence the ecological capacity and health of drylands around the world. Shrubs are often a critical component of these systems and can function positively as…


2021 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Rewilding Agricultural Landscapes: A California Study in Rebalancing the Needs of People and Nature

H. Scott Butterfield, T. Rodd Kelsey, and Abigail K. Hart, Editors

As the world population grows, so does the demand for food, putting unprecedented pressure on agricultural lands. At the same time, climate change, soil degradation, and water scarcity mean that…

2020 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

A meta-analysis contrasting active versus passive restoration practices in dryland agricultural ecosystems

M. Florencia Miguel, H. Scott Butterfield, Christopher J. Lortie

This meta-analysis provides a global synthesis of the which restoration practices – active vs. passive – are most successful at restoring plants, animals, and other ecosystem functions to…

2020 | Terrestrial | Technology | Publications & Reports

Remote Property Monitoring at The Nature Conservancy in California

Ethan Inlander, Katie Andrews, Contributors: Jennifer Chin, Sue Pollock, Mike McFadden, Scott Hardage, Scott Butterfield, Tod Rubin

With this publication, TNC in California marks a major shift in its approach to conservation easement monitoring. At the crossroads of conservation, stewardship and technology lies remote property…

2020 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Shaping land use change and ecosystem restoration in a water-stressed agricultural landscape to achieve multiple benefits

Benjamin P. Bryant, T R. Kelsey, Adrian L. Vogl, Stacey A. Wolny, Duncan J. MacEwan, Paul C. Selmants, Tanushree Biswas, H S. Butterfield

Irrigated agriculture has grown rapidly over the last 50 years, helping food production keep pace with population growth, but also leading to significant habitat and biodiversity loss globally. Now,…

2020 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Roadmap to Restoration

Rodd Kelsey, Scott Butterfield, Abigail Hart, Ruthie Redmond, Hope Bigda-Peyton

This Policy Brief summarizes the results of a study on the potential for strategic habitat restoration in the San Joaquin Valley of California as an important part of reducing overall water…

2020 | Terrestrial | Planning | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve Rangeland Management Plan

Butterfield, H.S., M. Katkowski, J. Cota, O. Sage, C. Sage, K. Easterday, D. Zeleke, L. Riege, S. Gennet, K. Lin, B. Leahy, M. Bell, M. Reynolds

Cattle grazing is the dominant land management tool TNC has to manage biodiversity and reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire at the TNC's Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve. This…

2020 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Planning | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve Integrated Resources Management Plan

Butterfield, H.S., M. Reynolds , M.G. Gleason, M. Merrifield, B.S. Cohen, W.N. Heady, D. Cameron, T. Rick, E. Inlander, M. Katkowski, L. Riege, J. Knapp, S. Gennet, G. Gorga, K. Lin, K. Easterday, B. Leahy, M. Bell

This Plan frames the biological and cultural significance and provides the short- and long-term goals, objectives, and priority actions for the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve.

2020 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Shrub and vegetation cover predict resource selection use by an endangered species of desert lizard

Christopher J. Lortie, Jenna Braun, Michael Westphal, Taylor Noble, Mario Zuliani, Emmeleia Nix, Nargol Ghazian, Malory Owen, H. Scott Butterfield

This paper evaluates how endangered species with highly restricted habitat needs and increasingly small population sizes (using blunt-nosed leopard lizard as our example), select and use available…


2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

The dark side of facilitation: native shrubs facilitate exotic annuals more strongly than native annuals

Jacob E. Lucero, Taylor Noble, Stephanie Haas, Michael Westphal, H. Scott Butterfield, Christopher J. Lortie

Previous work at the Carrizo Plain by this team in 2018 showed that native shrubs facilitated endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard populations, and should be considered part of plans for habitat…

2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Habitat restoration opportunities, climatic niche contraction, and conservation biogeography in California's San Joaquin Desert

Joseph A. E. Stewart, H. Scott Butterfield, Jonathan Q. Richmond, David J. Germano, Michael F. Westphal, Erin N. Tennant, Barry Sinervo

Due to limited water resources, there is a global trend toward the retirement of farmland, especially in the San Joaquin Valley in California where the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act could…

2018 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

A test of desert shrub facilitation via radiotelemetric monitoring of a diurnal lizard

Michael F. Westphal, Taylor Noble, Harry Scott Butterfield, Christopher J. Lortie

Shrubs can play a key role in the structure of desert communities and can function as foundation species. Understanding desert shrub ecology is therefore an important task in desert conservation. In…

2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Groundwater sustainability in the San Joaquin Valley: Multiple benefits if agricultural lands are retired and restored strategically

Rodd Kelsey, Abby Hart, H. Scott Butterfield, Dan Vink

Restoring habitat in retired farmland could reduce water demand and provide ecosystem services for farmers and local communities. In some areas of California, as a result of the Sustainable…

2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Better late than never: a synthesis of strategic land retirement and restoration in California

Chris Lortie, Alex Filazzola, Rodd Kelsey, Abigail Hart, Scott Butterfield

Over the past 100 years, California's Central Valley has undergone a massive transformation from desert to a mosaic of farmland and urban development. This transformation has also meant many…


2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Harnessing cross-border resources to confront climate change

Aburto-Oropeza, O., M. Edwards, S. Butterfield, and 93 additional authors

The U.S. and Mexico face many shared ecological changes due to the increased frequency and severity of droughts and rising energy demands; trends that entail economic costs for both nations and…

2017 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Publications & Reports

Identification of potentially suitable habitat for strategic land retirement and restoration in the San Joaquin Desert

H. Scott Butterfield, Rodd Kelsey, Abigail Hart, Tanushree Biswas, Mark Kramer, Dick Cameron, Laura Crane, Erica Brand

California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) established a framework for sustainable, local groundwater management. SGMA requires groundwater-dependent regions to…

2017 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Testing a Remote Sensing-Based Interactive System for Monitoring Grazed Conservation Lands

Lawrence D. Ford, H. Scott Butterfield, Pete A. Van Hoorn, Kasey B. Allen, Ethan Inlander, Carrie Schloss, Falk Schuetzenmeister, Miriam Tsalyuk

The Nature Conservancy developed RDMapper, a web-based tool that uses satellite-based productivity estimates, rainfall records, and compliance history to identify easement properties at risk of being…

2017 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Novel fine-scale aerial mapping approach quantifies grassland weed cover dynamics and response to management

Carolyn M. Malmstrom, H. Scott Butterfield, Laura Planck, Christopher W. Long, Valerie T. Eviner

Invasive weeds threaten the biodiversity and forage productivity of grasslands worldwide. However, management of these weeds is constrained by the practical difficulty of detecting small-scale…

2017 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Persistence of historical population structure in an endangered species despite near-complete biome conversion in California’s San Joaquin Desert

Jonathan Q. Richmond, Dustin A. Wood, Michael F. Westphal, Amy G. Vandergast, Adam D. Leache, Lawrence R. Saslaw, H. Scott Butterfield, Robert N. Fisher

This paper uses novel genetic approaches to document how land conversion in the San Joaquin Desert has affected population connectivity and relatedness in the endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard.…


2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

A picture is worth a thousand data points: an imagery dataset of paired shrub-open microsites within the Carrizo Plain National Monument

Taylor J. Noble , Christopher J. Lortie , Michael Westphal, H.Scott Butterfield

This paper presents camera trap data comprising over 425,000 images from the Carrizo Plain National Monument. This unique collection of digital images allowed the authors to capture animal behaviours…

2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Contemporary Drought and Future Effects of Climate Change on the Endangered Blunt-Nosed Leopard Lizard, Gambelia sila

Michael F. Westphal, Joseph A. E. Stewart, Erin N. Tennant, H. Scott Butterfield, Barry Sinervo

This paper documents the negative effects of the 2012-2014 drought—the most severe multi-year drought in southwestern North America in the past 1,200 years—on the endangered blunt-nosed…

2015 | Terrestrial | Planning | Publications & Reports

Monitoring the Impact of Grazing on Rangeland Conservation Easements Using MODIS Vegetation Indices

Miriam Tsalyuk, Maggi Kelly, Kevin Koy, Wayne M. Getz, H. Scott Butterfield

Monitoring the effects of grazing on rangelands is crucial for ensuring sustainable rangeland ecosystem function and maintaining conservation values. Residual dry matter (RDM), the dry grass…

2014 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

A multi-scale distribution model for non-equilibrium populations suggests resource limitation in an endangered rodent

Tim Bean, Bob Stafford, Scott Butterfield, Justin Brashares

This paper presents a multi-step approach to estimate the realized and potential distribution of the endangered giant kangaroo rat. The authors estimate the potential distribution by modeling…

2014 | Terrestrial | Technology | Publications & Reports

Remote Sensing and Residual Dry Matter Monitoring

H. Scott Butterfield, Miriam Tsalyuk, Carrie Schloss

The Nature Conservancy in California monitors residual dry matter (RDM) on approximately 300,000 acres of conservation lands. Researchers evaluated whether satellite remote sensing data could be used…


2014 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Species distribution models of an endangered rodent offer conflicting measures of habitat quality at multiple scales

Tim Bean, Laura Prugh, Bob Stafford, Scott Butterfield, Mike Westphal, Justin Brashares

In this study, the authors developed a suite of species distribution models (SDMs) for the endangered giant kangaroo rat using the machine-learning method Maxent. They compared these models with three…

2013 | Terrestrial | Planning | Data

Western San Joaquin Valley Least Conflict Solar Energy Assessment data

Butterfield, H.S., D. Cameron, E. Brand, M. Webb, E. Forsburg, M. Kramer, E. O’Donoghue, L. Crane

The Western San Joaquin Valley Least Conflict Solar Energy Assessment characterizes the land use constraints and opportunities associated with siting solar energy facilities in the Western San Joaquin…

2013 | Terrestrial | Planning | Publications & Reports

Western San Joaquin Valley Least Conflict Solar Energy Assessment

Butterfield, H.S., D. Cameron, E. Brand, M. Webb, E. Forsburg, M. Kramer, E. O’Donoghue, L. Crane

A Conservancy analysis of the western Mojave Desert identified where human activities had degraded the conservation value of lands making them potentially low impact locations for development of solar…

2013 | Terrestrial | Planning | Maps & Webmaps

Western San Joaquin Valley Least Conflict Solar Energy Assessment webmap

Megan Webb, Scott Butterfield

This webmap is a product of The Nature Conservancy’s 2013 Western San Joaquin Valley (WSJV) Least Conflict Solar Energy Assessment which characterizes the land use and conservation constraints…

2012 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

An evaluation of monitoring methods for the endangered giant kangaroo rat

Tim Bean, Bob Stafford, Laura Prugh, Scott Butterfield, Justin Brashares

This paper compares the efficacy of different monitoring methods for estimating distribution, abundance, and population growth of the endangered giant kangaroo rat to determine the best practices for…

2008 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

One size does not fit all: the use of cattle grazing for grassland management at Carrizo Plain National Monument

Caroline Christian , Lawrence Saslaw, H. Scott Butterfield

To better understand the ecological role of cattle grazing in managing Carrizo Plain National Monument, we initiated a long-term study in 1997 designed to evaluate the effects of cattle grazing on…