Profiles from the Peninsula is a series dedicated to spotlighting the partners who make up the Baja Working Group, and their projects. This week’s profile is on Dr. Keith Lombardo, Director of the Southern California Research Learning Center with the National Park Service, and his experience harnessing cross-border efforts to advance ecosystem resilience.
Puedes leer este blog en español aquí.
Profiles from the Peninsula is a series dedicated to spotlighting the partners who make up the Baja Working Group, and their projects. Each week, we will bring you a new profile in the form of a blog like this one. More information about the working group can be found here.
Dr. Keith Lombardo is the Director of the Southern California Research Learning Center at the US National Park Service, and has served as the Chair of the Baja Working Group since its inception. Keith is responsible for facilitating scientific partnerships between three Southern California Park Service units (Cabrillo National Monument, Channel Islands National Park, and the Santa Monica National Recreation Area) and regional collaborators such as academic institutions, nonprofits, and other government agencies.
Additionally, Keith serves as a research associate with Terra Peninsular, where his team was responsible for installing the first set of long-term intertidal monitoring sites in Baja California. These sites are located in the Punta Mazo Nature Reserve in San Quintin Bay, and are now part of the Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe), which coordinates data collection at sites along the entirety of the west coast of North America, from Alaska to Mexico.
To Keith, climate resilience means having connected and functioning ecosystems comprised primarily of native species that allow for adaptation to climate variability. He sees the Baja Working Group as a way of connecting researchers from both sides of the border, and integrating local communities into resilience work.
The Baja Working Group convenes local and international scientists, resource managers, conservation groups, educators, philanthropists, and other stakeholders to advance collaborative efforts that build resilience in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and in human communities. Learn more here.