Walter Heady

Senior Scientist
Freshwater/Stewardship
[email protected]

Walter is a Senior Scientist in The Nature Conservancy’s California Chapter, providing science to the Stewardship Program, the Climate and Nature-Based Solutions Team, and the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve. His work synthesizes our understanding of the ecological function and benefits to humans of nearshore marine and coastal systems in order to improve the quantity and quality of these often imperiled ecosystems. He collaborates with external partners to aggregate best science, develop novel approaches, and communicate findings to inform the conservation and recovery of imperiled species and ecosystems and better management of these resources. Walter is engaged in efforts to conserve and enhance the area of coastal habitats, restore coastal watersheds, and recover imperiled species including black abalone, sunflower sea stars, and steelhead.

Walter earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

What Walter is working on now:

Currently, Walter provides science support for stewardship of and research in TNC’s management of headwater, coastal river, and wetland systems. He works with his team and partners across this portfolio to advance conservation science and management within and beyond preserve boundaries. He is collaborating with the recovery team and partners to translocate black abalone for population recovery purposes. Dr Heady is collaborating on watershed restoration and population recovery of steelhead within the Jalama Creek watershed in the Dangermond Preserve. Walter also works to increase the pace and scale of coastal wetland conservation and restoration to maintain and enhance these critical ecosystems in the face of sea level rise.