Into the Wild

“Plants” are notably not in the name of the state agency that Meghan Hertel leads. But since taking over in February as the director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Hertel has recognized California’s native flora as squarely in the purview of the habitats she and her team oversee—more than 1 million acres of richly diverse terrain statewide. Born and raised on the East Coast, Hertel headed west two decades ago to follow her dream of conservation and stewardship. In the years since, on a path leading from Audubon California to the private sector and her previous role with the California Natural Resources Agency (where she helped guide California’s 30×30 conservation campaign), Hertel has advocated for a holistic approach to protecting nature in all its forms. She spoke to Flora about the importance of guarding California’s public lands for all, the necessity of coalition-building, and how to make a big difference on a tight timeline.   

Flora: We’re conducting this interview around your 100th day in your role at Fish and Wildlife. How is it going so far?

Meghan Hertel: A hundred days has flown by. I’ve really tried hard to spend a lot of time listening, whether getting out and meeting with staff in the department or meeting with external partners and communities. Our department touches almost every part of California, not only geographically, but through the management of public lands and wildlife, permitting and environmental review for infrastructure and development projects, managing public access, where people are going hiking and birdwatching or hunting and fishing, and the scientific research that informs conservation and species recovery. Just the breadth of the department’s work is incredible.

What would you say were your top two or three priorities for your leadership at Fish and Wildlife when you started in February? How have those priorities shifted or evolved since then?

MH: What I’m thinking about a lot as a top priority is: How do we, as a department, continue to achieve our core mission as the trustee of the state’s plants, animals, and habitats for the enjoyment of Californians now and in the future? How do we continue to take care of nature? That’s our responsibility. Housing, renewable energy, water projects, transportation, and other infrastructure needs are realities we must help navigate responsibly. The heart of our work is figuring out how to balance those needs while continuing to care for nature and conserve the resources Californians depend on. Another big priority I think about is how we tell our story better. I’ve worked with this department from the outside for a very long time, yet now that I’m in the department on a daily basis, I’m astounded by the depth of the amazing work we do on the regulatory side, the scientific side, the management of lands, all of that. We need to communicate that story to our very broad audience within California.

My third priority is really leaning into making living with wildlife work. We’re seeing an increase in the number of human-wildlife conflicts, so we need to bring our best available science, outreach and education to help Californians understand how we can live in a space where species are recovering in a way that both conserves those species and also protects people.

What does that mean in the context of living with native plant species and supporting biodiversity?

MH: It’s a little bit different—it’s not a mountain lion coming into your backyard, but it’s about protecting the native plants and the natural habitats where these mountain lions need to live and thrive. We want to help communities restore and protect open spaces, making sure that we’ve got the habitat and the food sources that these animals need to be able to make it. It’s important to understand and value those native plants and lift them up as part of biodiversity, whether that’s restoring them, protecting them, or even thinking about planting them in your yard.

You’ve spent your entire career—almost 20 years—in conservation in California. How did you find your way into this line of work in the first place?

MH: I’ve lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere else, so at some point I’m just going to claim myself as a Californian. But I’m originally from North Carolina and Florida—half and half. A big part of my growing up was on a barrier island in Florida; when I first moved there, the dunes and the beach were very undeveloped. There were these informal trails where you could get to the beach over the dunes. Now, when I go back to visit my mom, it’s almost entirely condos, and the only public beach access is through developed parks. So, in my lifetime, I have watched that ecosystem completely change. It solidified for me the importance of people understanding the value of nature. If they don’t, we make choices that put it at the lowest rung.

Coming out of undergraduate (at the University of Florida). I knew I wanted to do something outside. I thought, “How do I do something that is great for the environment and includes working with folks outside?” I decided to go back to graduate school (at Clark University in Massachusetts) and get my master’s in environmental science and policy. When I was in grad school, I learned about how Massachusetts was doing environmental work, how the U.S. government was doing environmental work, and then how California was leading the way. It really is seen by the rest of the country—and the rest of the world—as driving environmental conservation and recovery. I targeted jobs here after graduating, and it’s fascinating now to have my career here. In government, we always feel like we have to keep doing the next thing, when in reality we are leading much of the country in this work.

You have a unique perspective as someone who has worked with industry, as an NGO leader with Audubon California, and now leading a state agency. What is a conservation milestone you’ve supported in your earlier work that influences your role today?

MH: One of the benefits of having worked in all these different sectors is having had a view from different seats, all trying to influence good conservation outcomes. I’ve seen the importance of these sectors coming together for durable conservation wins. When I was at Audubon California, I got to work as part of the Migratory Bird Conservation Partnership, which is a more than decade-long partnership with The Nature Conservancy and Point Blue Conservation Science. We focused on working with landowners throughout the Central Valley to think about how we can manage the land and the water there to benefit migratory birds. We get more done when we do it together, and it’s more durable when we work across sectors. It’s not farmers versus birds versus water districts—we all bring a piece to solving the puzzle of durable conservation outcomes.

How do you think about CDFW’s role in addressing the increased threats to the state’s biodiversity?

MH: We sit at the center of the work addressing threats to biodiversity, protecting biodiversity, and, ultimately, working to recover biodiversity. I’ve had the pleasure over the last few weeks of getting out and meeting with some of our scientists who are doing groundbreaking work to understand where plants and animals are occurring, what they need, how they’re being impacted by climate change, and what management strategies we need to put in place to better help them recover. We also have regulatory authority, so when the Fish and Game Commission enacts listings for threatened or endangered species, we are responsible for implementing that. Also, people don’t often think about us as a land manager. We operate and manage over 1.1 million acres of land across the state of California, with much of it in places where there are rare or special species.

From the time you started at the California Natural Resources Agency in 2024, you’ve played a key role in spearheading the state’s 30×30 campaign to conserve 30% of our lands and coastal waters by 2030. We’re more than halfway through that effort today. How would you characterize our progress to date?

MH: We have made incredibly strong progress on 30×30: We’ve reached 26.1% of our conservation goals on land and 21.9% on water. I think a lot about how we can show our progress; we speak in terms of acres, but it’s about so much more than acres, right? It’s about how those acres are managed: Do they have the plants and animals? Are they healthy? Are they resilient? How connected are these acres in these landscapes? A big piece of 30×30 is making sure that when we reach the goal, we don’t have postage stamps of habitat but rather an interconnected network that is climate-resilient. So we have an entire team working on connectivity from a science standpoint, from an implementation standpoint, and from a permitting standpoint. And then, when lands are conserved, are communities able to access them?

I am very much heartened by the progress that we continue to make under 30×30. CNPS has been at the center of helping respond to a lot of the federal threats that are coming down, from rollbacks of public land protections or threats against national monuments. We are on track to hit the goal, but we can’t take our eye off the ball.

How do you see CDFW balancing its approach to biodiversity and conservation with its imperative toward equity and access to nature?

MH: Biodiversity goals have to go hand-in-hand with equity and access. The days of thinking about conserving land just to set it aside and not let people on it are past. I think we’ve learned a lot from our tribal partners that, particularly in California, there wasn’t a part of the land that didn’t have human interactions since time immemorial. I will say that I do this work—and I love this work—because I had the privilege of spending a lot of time outside when I was growing up. It’s incredibly important that we get people outside and experiencing nature in whatever form that takes, whether it’s their public park, or gardening with native plants, or in wilderness areas—not only for community health, but also to inspire the next generation of people to do this work.

There will be habitat restoration or sensitive species where public access needs to either be very heavily managed or restricted. The department has a lot of land that sits close to underserved communities. In the next few years, pending the passage of the proposed budget, we want to invest in improving public access in those areas and making sure they’re climate resilient. For the trails we’re providing, are they safe for people to walk on? Are they accessible? Are they going to get flooded out? Do we have shade structures or interpretive signs—ways people know what they’re looking at when they’re out on the ground? We have a lot of incredible ecological areas where we can actually get more folks out who wouldn’t traditionally have access.

Amid the larger efforts to resolve some of California’s most intractable structural challenges—such as building housing, new energy sources, wildfire policy, water and agriculture, etc.—how do you see CDFW contributing or advancing solutions for the sake of conservation?

MH: It’s important that we be able to find a path forward that shows that you can have conservation and species protection while still getting things done on the ground. As people in California are thinking about where to place building and infrastructure projects, having a consistent and clear regulatory process can help them design and develop better projects. We’re doing a lot within the department to really support advanced mitigation and planning processes, where people come together to actually look at a landscape and think about where housing and infrastructure need to go, and which sensitive places need to be protected. Habitat conservation plans—or HCPs—are a great example of this. That’s where local folks come together with state and federal agencies to develop a long-term plan that shows how their region will build out while still protecting the most important places. Tools like this help us find that right balance that is core to our mission.

Federal lands throughout California are under particular threat from policy shifts in Washington, D.C., from the closures of US Forest Service research stations to the prospect of selling protected land to development or energy interests. With this in mind, what are three things we can do collectively right now in California to protect the state’s native plants and habitats?

The federal government manages roughly 50% of the land in California. As a state agency, we work very closely with our federal partners to do what we can to advocate for and push for the protection of native plants and habitat on that federal land. When people consider actions of their own, federal advocacy is critically important. Look for opportunities to reach out to elected officials or federal agencies to engage in public processes and say you value native plants and habitats. Say you want to see them protected across all landscapes, whether state or federal. The next thing is to think about what we can do on lands that are not under federal control. How can we strengthen partnerships to do this work on local or private lands, whether that’s increasing the level of protection or restoration on those lands?

We also need to look beyond regulatory solutions, because when a plant or an animal becomes listed as endangered in California, that means it’s basically in the emergency room, right? It means there are relatively few of them left. So we need to think proactively about keeping plants and animals healthy and off of the California endangered species list. That means protecting, restoring and managing the places where plants and animals are now.

California will elect a new governor this fall. How do you think the conservation community can or should prepare for the transition to a new administration?

MH: It’s important for the community to be ready with clear priorities and practical solutions that help achieve those priorities. I also think we need to communicate the value of natural resources not just from the environmental side but also from the economic and public health side. Painting that full picture of nature’s importance across all aspects of life is really important as a new administration—or even the current administration—continues to look at where to prioritize limited capacity and funding. Strong partnerships really matter. Pulling in tribes, underserved communities, and folks who haven’t always had a seat at the table to join in both the setting of the priorities and the discussions from a policy perspective is super important as we look at the next phase for California.

Will you stay on in this role in the new administration?

MH: I serve at the pleasure of the governor, so the next governor could come in and choose to appoint someone else. The challenges the department is working on—from biodiversity to climate change to regulatory efficiencies—are incredibly complex and deep. So I am approaching my role as if I will continue forward, because I think that’s important both for the staff within the department, but also for the public that we serve. They deserve somebody who is thinking of what accomplishments can we achieve right now, as well as the long-term changes and improvements that we need to put in place to serve California into the future, whether under the next governor or the ones after that.

As someone who has spent her career in this field, what advice would you give to students or early career professionals interested in conservation?

MH: I feel incredibly grateful to have had the career that I’ve had and the wide variety of experiences that I’ve had by working across different sectors—doing everything from field work to policy work to organizational leadership. My advice to students or early career professionals is to stay open and be willing to work across disciplines or sectors. While I knew I wanted to work in conservation, I definitely did not have a clear path that I set out to follow. I said yes to a lot of opportunities, and sometimes took some risks.

Risks like what?

MH: You know, going and working in the private sector for a couple of years, or changing from a field position to working in a policy space, or taking on management responsibilities when my background was really an environmental science and policy focus. Saying “yes” when you get opportunities that sound interesting and exciting—and knowing that if it’s not the right choice, you can always make another one—has always served me really well. My last piece of advice would be to treat people with respect and in a light of partnership. It’s amazing how small this community and this world is, and it’s important to build relationships with the people who surround you. Those moments are most likely not the last time you’ll see them, and ultimately, good durable conservation comes from people. Being able to work with folks across the long term is really important.

Let’s end on an up note: What are a few conservation highlights or success stories giving you hope or inspiring you right now?

MH: The scale of the work happening across California is incredibly inspiring. Never in my lifetime did I think I would see the removal of four defunct dams on the Klamath River. And then to see salmon come back, years ahead of the timeline when we thought they would come back? That type of massive conservation win—which was decades in the making and led by tribes for many, many years—is an example of how sometimes this conservation work takes a very long time to tee up, but it can happen quite quickly. And in response, nature can come back quickly as well.