Michael Skuja

California Representative

Areas of Expertise: threatened and endangered species in California, conflict mitigation

Mike joined Defenders as California Representative in mid-January 2007.  His work spans conservation activities throughout the state, but focuses on the recovery of threatened and endangered species in the California Desert and the Sierra Nevada.  He works with diverse stakeholders in both areas and is a member of the Desert Managers Group, the Mohave Ground Squirrel Technical Advisory Group in the Desert, the Triggers and Thresholds Committee and the Climate and Conservation Group in the Sierra. Mike was a co-author of the 2008 report, 'Economic Oasis: Revealing the True Value of the Mojave Desert'.

Before coming to Defenders, Mike was a program officer in the Ecosystem, Assessment and Policy Division of the United Nations Environment Programme-World Conservation and Monitoring Centre and a field biologist working with large carnivores and primates.

Mike has an M.S. in Biodiversity Conservation and Management from the University of Oxford and studied at UW-Madison, majoring in Zoology and Geography.