Tamara Wilson
Leader, Innovator, Strategic Planner, and Physical Scientist. Currently spearheading the development of external partnerships and programs to train and recruit the next generation workforce for critical minerals research, discovery, and technology work.
Land change and water use in California
Water shortages in California are a growing concern amidst ongoing drought, earlier spring snowmelt, projected future climate warming, and currently mandated water-use restrictions. Modeling results show that only if currently mandated 25% reductions in municipal water use are continuously implemented, would water demand in 2062 balance to water use levels in 2012.
Threats to protected areas
Protected areas will likely undergo shifts in ecological composition in coming decades given the coupled threats of land use and climate change. By assessing the land use threats facing species and/or ecosystems we can assist land managers in preserving biodiversity into the future and prioritizing at-risk lands for land acquisition or other nature based solutions.
Ecological Forecasting
We modeled dynamic scenarios of climate, land use, cropland and wetland habitat change across the Central Valley of California to help optimize water allocations for multiple ecosystem benefits, producing annual mapped forecasts and long-term projections of the spatial and temporal availability of managed wetland habitat in this critical migratory corridor.
Tamara’s broad research interests include how land use change, both historic and projected, influence regional environmental processes and resource availability and how nature-based solutions can address natural hazards. Her scenario research identifies land change impacts and feedbacks on protected areas, water availability, ecosystems, and habitat sustainability.
Her graduate training at the University of Arizona was in the fields of biogeography, climatology, climate change, paleoclimate, and paleoecology. With her experience examining natural archives of paleo-environmental landscape change, she was able to make the leap to utilizing modern remote sensing based records to examine human-derived landscape level changes and their associated impacts on natural resources. Her recent work utilizes historic land change records to inform model scenarios of future land change and their potential impacts on natural resources, including habitat and water availability.
As Deputy Director of the National Innovation Center, Tamara works to expand the reach of the center, helping to forge new and exciting partnerships between USGS scientists and other public, private, academic, and non-profit parties. She is working to develop regional and national communication pipelines as well as coordinating science seminars and workshops to introduce the latest technological advancements in earth science and explore their use in the federal science portfolio.
Professional Experience
2025-present: External Program Manager, USGS Mineral Resources Program
2024-2025: Assistant Regional Administrator, Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center
2023-2024: Policy Analyst, Nature-based Solutions and Climate Change, U.S. Department of the Interior
2022-2024: Climate Science Steering Committee Coordinator, Office of the Chief Scientist
2019-2024: Deputy Director, National Innovation Center
2017: Program Analyst, Youth and Education in Science Program
2014-2024: Research Geographer, Western Geographic Science Center
2009-2014: Geographer, Western Geographic Science Center
2005-2009: Physical Scientist, Western Geographic Science Center
Education and Certifications
M.A. Geography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (2002)
B.A. Environmental Studies - Land Use Planning and Management, California State University East Bay, Hayward, CA (1997)
Affiliations and Memberships*
Advisor and Chair - Nature-based Solutions Working Group - Department of the Interior (2023-2024)
Chair - 6th Federal UxS Users Workshop (2023-2024)
Co-Chair - Green Infrastructure Federal Collaborative Regional Permitting Network Implementation Committee (2023-2024)
Co-Chair - USGS Climate Science Plan Writing Team (2022-2024)
Chair - USGS EarthMAP Use Case Development Team (2020 – 2021)
Chair - USGS National Innovation Center Seminar Series (2019-present)
Organizing Committee - 3rd, 4th, 5th Federal UxS Workshops (2019 - 2022)
Technical Reviewer - California Fourth Climate Change Assessment chapter in "Increasing Soil Organic Carbon To Mitigate Greenhouse Gases And Increase Climate Resiliency For California" (2018)
Chair - Pacific Region Colloquium Committee, Menlo Park, CA (2013 - 2018)
Technical Contributor - 4th National Climate Assessment Chapter on Land Use and Land Cover (2017)
4th California Climate Assessment externally-funded partner (2016 - 2017)
Land Change Science Program Review Panel member, USGS (2016)
Co-Chair - USGS Postdoctoral/New Researcher Colloquium (2014 - 2017)
Eastern LandCarbon Land Use and Land Cover Downscaling Working Group (2011)
Association of American Geographers
American Geophysical Union
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Society for Conservation Biology
Society for Freshwater Science
California Rangeland Coalition
Society for Conservation GIS
Honors and Awards
Group Award - National Climate Adaptation Science Center (2025)
Individual Performance Award - Department of the Interior (2024)
USGS Star Award for Excellence in Service - Next Generation Water Observation External Research & Development (2024)
Group Award - Office of the Director, Chief Scientist (2024)
USGS Star Award for Excellence in Service - Office of the Director, Chief Scientist (2023)
USGS Star Award for Excellence in Service - Next Generation Water Observation External Research & Development (2023)
USGS Star Award for Excellence in Service – EarthMAP Use Case Development Team Lead (2021)
USGS Star Award for Excellence in Service - National Innovation Center (2021)
Local Development under Climate Change: Evaluating Trade-offs Between Carbon Emissions, Water Sustainability, and Affordable Housing for Communities in the Central Coast ($722,000) CASGC (2020)
Integrating Land Use and Climate Change on California's Central Coast: Impacts and Adaptations for Local Communities ($415,000) CASGC (2018)
Unit Award for Excellence of Service – LandCarbon Team (2017)
Elected to Leadership 101 training by USGS colleagues (2017)
Elected Trustee of the Mountain View Whisman School District Board of Education (2016-2020)
The Nature Conservancy ($30,000) (2014)
Science and Products
Effects of 21st century climate, land use, and disturbances on ecosystem carbon balance in California Effects of 21st century climate, land use, and disturbances on ecosystem carbon balance in California
Future scenarios of land change based on empirical data and demographic trends Future scenarios of land change based on empirical data and demographic trends
Mediterranean California’s water use future under multiple scenarios of developed and agricultural land use change Mediterranean California’s water use future under multiple scenarios of developed and agricultural land use change
Projecting community changes in hazard exposure to support long-term risk reduction: A case study of tsunami hazards in the U.S. Pacific Northwest Projecting community changes in hazard exposure to support long-term risk reduction: A case study of tsunami hazards in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
Estimating carbon sequestration in the piedmont ecoregion of the United States from 1971 to 2010 Estimating carbon sequestration in the piedmont ecoregion of the United States from 1971 to 2010
Future land-use related water demand in California Future land-use related water demand in California
Land-use impacts on water resources and protected areas: applications of state-and-transition simulation modeling of future scenarios Land-use impacts on water resources and protected areas: applications of state-and-transition simulation modeling of future scenarios
Potential future land use threats to California's protected areas Potential future land use threats to California's protected areas
Land cover trends dataset, 1973-2000 Land cover trends dataset, 1973-2000
Land-use threats and protected areas: a scenario-based, landscape level approach Land-use threats and protected areas: a scenario-based, landscape level approach
Spatially explicit modeling of 1992-2100 land cover and forest stand age for the conterminous United States Spatially explicit modeling of 1992-2100 land cover and forest stand age for the conterminous United States
Recent land-use/land-cover change in the Central California Valley Recent land-use/land-cover change in the Central California Valley
Science and Products
Effects of 21st century climate, land use, and disturbances on ecosystem carbon balance in California Effects of 21st century climate, land use, and disturbances on ecosystem carbon balance in California
Future scenarios of land change based on empirical data and demographic trends Future scenarios of land change based on empirical data and demographic trends
Mediterranean California’s water use future under multiple scenarios of developed and agricultural land use change Mediterranean California’s water use future under multiple scenarios of developed and agricultural land use change
Projecting community changes in hazard exposure to support long-term risk reduction: A case study of tsunami hazards in the U.S. Pacific Northwest Projecting community changes in hazard exposure to support long-term risk reduction: A case study of tsunami hazards in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
Estimating carbon sequestration in the piedmont ecoregion of the United States from 1971 to 2010 Estimating carbon sequestration in the piedmont ecoregion of the United States from 1971 to 2010
Future land-use related water demand in California Future land-use related water demand in California
Land-use impacts on water resources and protected areas: applications of state-and-transition simulation modeling of future scenarios Land-use impacts on water resources and protected areas: applications of state-and-transition simulation modeling of future scenarios
Potential future land use threats to California's protected areas Potential future land use threats to California's protected areas
Land cover trends dataset, 1973-2000 Land cover trends dataset, 1973-2000
Land-use threats and protected areas: a scenario-based, landscape level approach Land-use threats and protected areas: a scenario-based, landscape level approach
Spatially explicit modeling of 1992-2100 land cover and forest stand age for the conterminous United States Spatially explicit modeling of 1992-2100 land cover and forest stand age for the conterminous United States
Recent land-use/land-cover change in the Central California Valley Recent land-use/land-cover change in the Central California Valley
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government