Education
PhD, Geography, University of California, UC Davis, September 2014. Dissertation: Landscape Change in Suisun Marsh
Advisor: Dr. Peter Moyle
- 2015 Kinsella Memorial Prize in recognition of the Outstanding Graduate Research Dissertation in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis
Master of Arts, Geography, UC Davis, December 2012. Specialty in GIS and Geographic Techniques, minor in Plant Ecology
Advisor: Dr. Peter Moyle
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Competency Certificate, Santa Rosa Junior College, 2009.
Bachelor of Arts, Environmental Studies, Sonoma State University, September 1999. Emphasis in Media Studies.
Research Experience
Postdoctoral research, UC Davis, 2014 – 2018.
- Research in ecological effects of drought in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
- Research in Floodplain Ecology and fish ecology in Suisun Marsh.
Doctoral Research, UC Davis, 2012 – 2014.
- Read and synthesized historical record for Suisun Marsh, described 200 years of landscape change based on the anthropological record, explorers journals, the map record, and other sources.
- Designed animated maps to communicate content of the Suisun Marsh Fish and Invertebrate Study dataset.
Masters Research, UC Davis, 2006 – 2012.
- Characterized hydrogeomorphic change in Suisun Marsh based on the map record and other sources.
Research Assistant, Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS), UC Davis, 2011 – 2014.
- Writing, editing, cartography, and graphic design for Suisun Marsh: Ecological History and Possible Futures (book).
- California Drought Summit event planning and program layout and design.
- Microsoft Access database management and GIS support for CWS research and publications.
Research Assistant, Landscape Analysis and Systems Research Laboratory, UC Davis, 2006 – 2011.
- Modeled landscape-scale impacts of water use patterns in residential neighborhoods.
Teaching Experience
Instructor
- Introduction to GIS, 2017, 2018, and 2019 courses for UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education
- Cartography: Communicating with Maps, 2018 course for UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education
- GIS for Watershed Analysis, 2018 course for UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education
- GIS Methods for Hydrology (graduate seminar), Spring 2016 and Summer 2014
- Practical GIS for Field Research (graduate seminar), Fall 2012 and Spring 2013
Teaching Assistant
- Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, Fall 2011
- Site Ecology for Landscape Architects, Spring quarters 2007 – 2010
- History of Landscape Architecture, Winter 2007
Curriculum Development
- Cartography: Communicating with Maps for UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education and Coursera
- Introduction to GIS for graduate seminars and UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education
- Development lead for GIS curriculum plan for undergraduate studies at UC Davis; sponsored by James Quinn at the UC Davis Information Center for the Environment, Fall 2009
Guest Lectures
- Careers in GIS. September, 2018. Invited by Professor Alison McNally to lecture undergraduate students at Cal-State Stanislaus.
- How Historical Ecology informs our Sense of Place. July, 2017. Invited by instructor Sahoko Yui to lecture to UC Berkeley Landscape Architecture students about applying historical research to Landscape Design.
- What does it mean to design with nature? November, 2012. Invited by Dr. Claire Napawan to lecture to UC Davis Landscape Architecture students in introductory course. Lectured on environmental ethics, landscape change geography, and reconciliation ecology.
- GIS, GPS, and Cartography. June 2012. Napa Valley Personal Computer Users Group.
- Genetics and Evolution for Landscape Architects, Spring 2010. Guest lecture to students in Site Ecology for Landscape Architects.
Other Professional Experience
Facilitation – extensive training and experience in meeting facilitation for non-profit and academic organizations, 1998 – present.
Field Technician and GIS Analyst – Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, 2005 – 2007. Lead Field Technician in landscape-scale invasive aquatic weed management program with duties including studies of treatment effectiveness, water quality monitoring, and volunteer recruitment and training. Trained coworkers, wrote field manual, produced maps, managed data, and maintained water quality monitoring and GPS equipment.
Publications
Manfree, Amber D. March 2019. Napa County Conservation Policy: Existing Conditions and Proposed Policy Impacts (white paper). Prepared for Napa Growers / Vintners for Responsible Agriculture.
Baumsteiger, Jason, Robert E. Schroeter, Teejay A. O’Rear, Jonathan D. Cook, Amber D. Manfree and Peter B. Moyle. January 2018. Factors affecting distribution and abundance of a trio of invasive Black Sea jellyfish in San Francisco Estuary, California. Biological Invasions, 20 (1) pp 105-119.
Opperman, Jeffrey J., Peter B. Moyle, Joan L. Florsheim, Eric W. Larsen, and Amber D. Manfree. 2017. Floodplains: Processes and Management for Ecosystem Services. UC Press, Berkeley, CA.
Durand, John, Peter B. Moyle, and Amber D. Manfree, 2017. Reconciling conservation and human use in the Delta. California Waterblog, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.
Moyle, Peter B., John Durand, and Amber Manfree. November 2016. The North Delta Habitat Arc: An Ecosystem Strategy for Saving Fish. California Waterblog, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.
Manfree, Amber D. July 2015. Napa County strings together a ‘living’ river. California WaterBlog, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.
Moyle, Peter B., Amber D. Manfree, and Peggy L. Fiedler, editors. 2014. Suisun Marsh: Ecological History and Possible Futures. UC Press, Berkeley, CA.
Manfree, Amber D. in Moyle, Peter B., Amber D. Manfree, and Peggy L. Fiedler, editors. 2014. Historical Ecology of Suisun Marsh. UC Press, Berkeley, CA.
Moyle, Peter B., Amber D. Manfree, and Peggy L. Fiedler. 2013. The Future of Suisun Marsh: Balancing Policy with Change. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science, 11(3).
Manfree, Amber D. Drought journal: Search for Sierra fish goes from bad to worse. August 2014. California WaterBlog, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.
Manfree, Amber D., and Peter Moyle. May 2014. Planning for the inevitable at Suisun Marsh. May 1, 2014. California WaterBlog, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.
Presentations and Posters
Manfree, Amber D. Warming up to (Climate) Change. How studying landscape change can help communities adjust to a shifting environment. Presented at the 2016 Okanagan Water Board Annual Meeting.
Manfree, Amber D. Exploring a long-term fish dataset with ArcGIS animation tools. Presented at the at 2015 Annual ESRI User Conference.
Manfree, Amber D. The Fishes of Suisun Marsh: Exploring and Communicating 35 years of research with data animations. Presented at the at 2015 Annual California Geographical Society Conference.
Manfree, Amber D. Landscape-scale aquatic reconciliation in the North Delta Arc. Presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the California-Nevada Chapter of the American Fisheries Society.
Manfree, Amber D. Garden Nurseries and Trophic Relays: Spatial partitioning by fish size class in the Arc reflects higher juvenile recruitment and foraging success in regions of high pelagic food production. Presented at the 2015 Interagency Ecological Program Workshop.
Manfree, Amber D., Peter B. Moyle. Thirty‐Five Years of Fish Studies in Suisun Marsh: Perspectives and Animations. Presented at the 2014 8th Biennial Bay-Delta Science Conference.
Manfree, Amber D. A new look at the fishes of Suisun Marsh. Presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the California-Nevada Chapter of the American Fisheries Society.
Manfree, Amber D., Peter B. Moyle, Peggy L. Fiedler. Suisun Marsh, past and prospects: Highlights from the forthcoming book with UC Press. Presented at the 2013 11th Biennial State of the Estuary Conference.
Manfree, Amber D. Suisun Marsh historical ecology: Notoriously swampy and overflowed lands. Presented at the 2012 7th Biennial Bay-Delta Science Conference.
Manfree, Amber D. Historical Ecology of Suisun Marsh. Poster presented at 2011 Annual California Geographical Society Conference.
Manfree, Amber D. Modeling wet and dry weather water quality in Sacramento County’s urban residential areas. Presented at the 2010 Annual California Geographical Society Conference.
Manfree, Amber D., Andrew Bale, Steven Greco, Loren Oki, Darren Haver, Jay Gan, Sveta Bondarenko. Modeling the effects of landscape best management practices on water quality in urban residential areas. Presented at the 2010 239th Annual American Chemical Society Conference. Manfree, Amber D., Steven Greco, Andrew Bale. Modeling the effects of household-scale BMPs in urban residential zones. Presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers.
Cartography
What’s Up with WaterFix? September 2018. ESTUARY News. San Francisco Estuary Partnership. Comparative Delta Flows map triptych, pp 5.
Franks Tract Futures: Exploring options for multi-benefit restoration and increased resilience in the Central Delta Corridor. June 2018. California Department of Fish and Wildlife Delta Conservation Framework. Delta Islands and Central Delta Corridor maps, pp 2; 16.
Resilient by Design: The Experience and Corps Explores New Ecological Territory. June 2018. ESTUARY News. San Francisco Estuary Partnership. Resilient by Design and Hamilton City site maps, pp 7; 35.
Cold Curtain. December 2017. ESTUARY News. San Francisco Estuary Partnership. Shasta and Trinity Water and Power Infrastructure map, pp 16.
The Delta from Within. September 2017. ESTUARY News. San Francisco Estuary Partnership. Holland District map, pp 8.
Options for Estuary Orphans. December 2016. ESTUARY News. San Francisco Estuary Partnership. North Delta Arc of Habitat map, pp 8.
Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. 2016. San Francisco Estuary Partnership. San Francisco Estuary Partnership Study Area and San Francisco Estuary Habitat maps, pp 6; 21.
State of the Estuary Report. 2015. San Francisco Estuary Partnership. Map program.
Connolly Ranch welcome map interpretive signage. 2014. UC Master Gardeners, Napa Land Trust, and Connolly Ranch.
The Shifting Cultural Landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area, 1772 – 1846. 2013. Self-published.
Watersheds of California. 2010. Self-published.
Other Projects
Jacoba Charles and Amber Manfree. Resprout Photo Essay. 2017. ESTUARY News. San Francisco Estuary Partnership. Select photographs of the 2017 Atlas Fire in Napa County.
Fleenor, William, Amber D. Manfree, and Megan Nguyen. Unraveling the Knot: Water Movement in the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta. 2017. UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. Three part video series.
Manfree, Amber D., Megan Nguyen, Micah Bisson, Kyle Phillips, Rosemary Hartman, Bruce Herbold, Miranda Bell-Tilcock, John Durand, Peter B. Moyle, Jim Dunn, Ofurhe Igbinedion, Jane Hartman, Neil Hartman, Nicole Aha, Carson Jeffries, and Nick Santos. 2016. Data Wars: A New Hope – shadow puppet theater. With support from UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.
Community Service
Suisun Marsh Complete Marsh Project, 2017, 2018
Suisun Marsh Fish and Invertebrate Study field sampling, 2008 – 2016
Bodega Bay Annual Field Survey volunteer, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2017
North San Francisco Bay Fish Study (Napa, Sonoma, and Petaluma creeks), 2016
Outdoor education modules for Napa Resource Conservation District student field trips, 2014, 2015
Organized tour of Napa River restoration projects for UC Davis affiliates, 2015
South San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds Fish Study, 2014
Pine Creek Annual Fish Survey (Modoc County), 2010
Putah Creek Annual Field Survey, 2009