Career Panel

Ange Darnell Baker is a Senior Environmental Scientist (Specialist) at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). She currently works as the CESA Recovery Coordinator for the Wildlife Branch’s Wildlife Diversity Program. In this role, she is responsible for coordinating recovery plans for all terrestrial wildlife listed under the California Endangered Species Act. Before her current position, she worked in CDFW’s Cannabis Program, ensuring that the burgeoning agricultural industry does not significantly impact fish and wildlife resources. Prior to working for CDFW, Ange was on the faculty in the Wildlife Department at Humboldt State University (HSU) where she taught many courses including Mammal Management, Animal Behavior, and Wildlife Techniques, among others. She received her PhD from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette studying the impacts of human recreation on carnivores in national parks and other protected areas. Her master’s from HSU examined the space use of African wild dogs in relation to their two main competitors, lions and spotted hyenas.

Sam Sosa is a Senior Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based out of Sacramento, CA, where he works with threatened and endangered species. Previously, he was worked on aquatic invasive species prevention, red-cockaded woodpecker recovery, and invasive species removal and seabird monitoring. Sam also had the pleasure to work as a Community Youth Development worker (i.e., Social Worker) at a high school in Mongolia for the Peace Corps (2014-2016).

After graduating from the University of Redlands in 1989, Kathy worked seasonally for the US Forest Service in Fire and Natural Resources. She’s served in the US Peace Corps in the Philippines (Forestry) and Senegal (National Parks). Kathy spent about fifteen years with large and small consulting firms before starting her own business in 2005 shortly after the birth of her daughter Aurora. Out of Sunrise grew Ironwood Consulting, where Kathy served as the corporate President for over ten years, leaving in 2020 to go back to Sunrise. Currently Kathy works on smaller projects under Sunrise and has started a new non-profit this year to support research for her main love, the Mohave ground squirrel. Look for the Mohave Ground Squirrel Conservation Council at future meetings!