Mark Bibbo

Experience

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  UCSC Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems

  Jan 1998 - Dec 1998

  Assistant Garden Manager/Teaching Assistant

  Assistant garden manager and teaching assistant for the Center’s 6-month hands-on horticultural training program. Instructed and trained 35 students in a full range of horticultural skills, including organic vegetable, herb, fruit, and cut flower production, composting, irrigation, and direct marketing. Coordinated day-to-day work of groups of students (ranging in size from 5-15) in the one and a half-acre market garden site.

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  San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG)

  Jan 1999 - Jan 2000

  Urban Agriculture Coordinator

  Developed and managed SLUG’s second full-scale demonstration market garden in one of San Francisco’s low-income public housing developments. Converted an abandoned one-and-a-half acre lot into a highly productive vegetable and flower garden. Coordinated volunteer and youth employee labor in the garden. Taught classes on a full range of horticultural topics for participants in SLUG’s 10-week green gardening class, participants in SLUG’s youth employment program, and the general public, utilizing the garden as “a living classroom.” Offered consultation services for city gardeners and members of SLUG. Contributed writing to SLUG’s bi-annual newsletters. Co-taught SLUG’s Landscaping Training course, a 15-week course for participants in SLUG’s Transitional Employment Program. The course provided the class of 15 adults with the necessary information and training to enter the job market as entry-level gardeners and took the form of evening lectures and weekend field trips and workdays in SLUG’s community garden projects around San Francisco. Show less

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  University of California, Davis Arboretum

  Jan 2001 - Jun 2004

  Curatorial and Horticultural Assistant

  As curatorial assistant, I maintained updates of computerized maps and associated databases for the Arboretum’s research and teaching collections. Assisted the Museum scientist in supervision of all curatorial volunteers and activities. Identified specimens from the collections (over 4000 taxa of worldwide distribution) for staff, students, and visitors. Prepared reports on collections statistics for faculty, researchers and other interested parties. As horticulturalist, I assisted the Arboretum Superintendent on the development of the Arboretum’s Home Demonstration Garden Project. Duties include the procurement of and research on plant material for the new garden, assisting the arboretum’s landscape manager in the procedures for preparation of the site, and overseeing volunteer labor in the installation of the new garden. Show less

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  University of California, Davis Center for Plant Diversity (Herbarium)

  Jun 2002 - Jun 2004

  Research Assistant

  Carried out floristic inventories for two local UC Davis managed reserves. Collected and identified specimens from the reserves to species level. Assisted the director filing herbarium specimens and entering collection data into the herbarium’s database. As part of a graduate level seminar in conjunction with this position, co-wrote the plant chapters for a natural history field guide to the UC Davis Quail Ridge reserve. Identified plant specimens for graduate student research.

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  University of California, Davis Section of Plant Biology

  Mar 2003 - Jun 2004

  Teaching Assistant

  Taught three quarters of undergraduate labs for the introductory Botany and California Floristics (Plant Taxonomy) courses in the Plant Biology department. The California Floristics lab emphasized using standard taxonomic references, such as the Jepson Manual, for identification of plant species. Led students on field trips in which we practiced using the Jepson Manual to identify plants. Guided students in projects for additional credits which involved make plant collections for the herbarium.

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  California Department of Fish and Game

  May 2003 - Feb 2005

  Seasonal Vegetation Ecologist

  Conducted vegetation surveys for the Resource Assessment Program branch of the Department of Fish and Game in Sierran montane meadows. Collected vegetation data in support of wildlife inventorying and monitoring projects from Shasta to Kern counties. Collected voucher specimens for montane meadow species and identified plant species for other project participants. Created a Sierra Nevadan montane meadow vegetation polygon layer in ArcView.

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  California Native Plant Society

  Feb 2005 - Jun 2006

  Seasonal Vegetation Ecologist

  Collected vegetation data for the Sierra Nevada Foothills Vegetation Inventory project. Supervised up to three assistants in data collection using CNPS rapid assessment and releve protocols for two four-month field seasons. Assisted project supervisor in the analysis of data for the purposes of vegetation classification. Compiled and organized data in an online statewide vegetation database. Performed various other tasks for the CNPS vegetation program including workshop support, management of vegetation data, and vegetation mapping tasks. Show less

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  EDAW-AECOM

  Jun 2006 - Apr 2010

  Botanist

  Conducted a wide variety of biological survey work, such as rare plant surveys, vegetation mapping, wetland delineations, tree surveys, and weed mapping, on properties ranging in size from 2 acres to approximately 6000 acres. AECOM Sacramento’s clients included private entities and public agencies, including California Department of Fish and Game, California Department of Parks and Recreation, U. S. Forest Service, U.S. National Park Service, as well county and city governments. Wrote numerous biological reports in support of CEQA and NEPA documents. Carried out project work under little to no supervision and was responsible for advance planning of field work including preparation of field maps and data forms, supervision of other biologists in data collection tasks, organizing and analyzing field data, and preparing reports describing results and summarizing conclusions. Familiar with use of GPS units for collecting data and ArcGIS for analysis and display of field collected data. Show less

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  Westervelt Ecological Services

  May 2010 - Sept 2011

  Botanist/Restoration Ecologist

  Provided technical support in the fields of biological monitoring, habitat restoration, and land stewardship. With the senior ecologist, provided biological input to conservation planners preparing mitigation and conservation banking documents, conducted biological monitoring for established banks, and prepared annual reports according to the agency requirements for existing banks. Planned and carried out land management tasks related to contracted restoration projects.

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  Garcia & Associates

  Oct 2011 - Oct 2018

  Senior Botanist/Restoration Ecologist

  Led teams of other professionals in implementing technical studies and monitoring efforts related to botany and wetlands. Specialized in plant identification, floristic inventories, rare plant surveying, vegetation mapping, wetland delineation, invasive plant species mapping and monitoring, and restoration implementation oversight and monitoring. Conducted field work in all parts of the state, with an emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley and delta regions, the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the Lake Tahoe region, and southern California deserts. GANDA’s clients included private entities and public agencies, including Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Caltrans, The Nature Conservancy, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE). Authored and peer-reviewed technical reports including rare plant survey reports, wetland delineation reports, Biological Assessments, and biological resources technical reports. Developed scopes of work and managed project budgets. Show less

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  H. T. Harvey & Associates

  Jan 2018 - May 2022

  Senior Plant Ecologist

  As a senior project manager at HT Harvey, my responsibilities included managing all aspects of the biological components of CEQA/NEPA assessments, rare plant surveys, wetland delineations and habitat mapping projects, Clean Water Act Section 404/401 and similar resource agency permitting projects, and resource management plans; managing staff, budgets, clients, and agency contacts; business development; marketing; proposal preparation; and staff training and supervision; and recruiting.

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  California Native Plant Society

  May 2022 - Jan 2024

  Vegetation Ecologist/Program Manager

  I work in the state-wide Vegetation Program [https://www.cnps.org/vegetation] coordinating field data collection efforts for vegetation classification and mapping projects in Central California. I conduct workshops and trainings in CNPS and CDFW vegetation sampling protocols and methods and mentor junior staff and early-career botanists.

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  Land Trust of Santa Cruz County

  Jan 2024 - now

  Conservation Project Manager