APPLIED ECOLOGY: Tanner Harris '06 and environmental consulting By Julia De Santis '12 Tanner Harris '06 walks through the desert near the Mexican border with California, jotting down every cactus and scraggly twig he sees. Trained as a field ecologist, Tanner applies his skills with WRA, Inc., an environmental consulting firm that helps individuals, companies, and municipalities navigate California's complex permitting processes. The current clients want to create a solar installation on their desert property. Biological surveys like Tanner's are often the first step in minimizing the impact of various forms of development. These aren't feel-good efforts. In California it is the law. "All projects must undergo environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act, which examines the biological impacts of a project. That is what we help clients with at WRA," says Tanner. Additional approval is required for projects that will affect species or habitats protected by California or the federal government.
the bishop pine forests of northern California. A fascination with plants Originally from Walnut Creek, California, Tanner was always interested in plants and the natural world. So when he went for an admission interview in San Francisco, and Sarah Baker, former dean of admission, pulled out a map of Acadia National Park, pointing to COA's campus across the street, Tanner was sold. Once in Maine, he focused on plant ecology, taking biology faculty member Suzanne Morse's plant morphology and horticulture-based classes, studying lichens and bryophytes with adjunct faculty member Fred Olday, and plant taxonomy with visiting faculty member Alison Dibble. After three years Tanner took a break to attend a gardening school in Scotland, trading one remote ecological outpost for another. Meanwhile, botanist Nishanta (Nishi) Rajakaruna '94, joined COA's faculty. When Tanner returned to campus, he began his senior project under Fred and Nishi's guidance, conducting a lichen inventory of a serpentine outcrop in Brooksville, Maine.
Tanner went on to pursue a master's in plant and soil science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He worked with Bill Manning, a plant biologist who focuses on the effects of air pollution on plants. Later, with Nishi's help, Tanner and Luka Negoita '11 were hired by the United States Forest Service to hike and inventory several thousand acres of burnt forest in California, comparing post-fire regrowth from serpentine to nonserpentine soils. Consulting At WRA, Tanner uses his training in biology and ecology to assess a site, help clients understand the regulatory issues they're facing, and recommend ways to reduce the impact of the project and restore or mitigate unavoidable issues. His work often begins with a biological survey to figure out what is on the land. "Field days can be great," says Tanner, "Sometimes I am just visiting a vacant lot in Oakland," but other days he is exploring remote areas in Santa Barbara County, or using his knowledge of serpentine soils to map habitat for endangered butterflies in the hills above San Jose.
Tanner especially loves to work on projects in the desert. "It's such a strange place," he says, "It's a harsh environment and organisms have developed interesting ways to cope, usually some sort of extreme life cycle or bizarre growth form. At first it seems like there isn't much out there, probably only three or four dominant species of plants. But once you start looking harder, you notice all sorts of plants growing in this seemingly inhospitable place." After Tanner's work in the desert he spent a week surveying dunes along the southern coast of California. By the end of the month he was in COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Tanner Harris '06 on a field trip with the California Native Plant Society to The Cedars, a serpentine outcrop in Sonoma County, California. Photo courtesy of Tanner Harris. 31