Some people find their way to restoration through fieldwork. Mando Valencia found his way through a keynote that wouldn't let him go.
It was Brook Thompson's keynote at SERCAL 2023 in Davis that sparked something — a recognition that restoration presentations could still overlook the cultural histories of the landscapes being restored, and that the relationships with Indigenous communities and Tribal nations that make this work whole were too often missing from the conversation. For Mando, getting involved with SERCAL felt like a way to help change that.
Mando believes SERCAL's greatest strength is in creating a culture where practitioners feel supported bringing their methods, challenges, and results into the conversation. "If you're not sharing information, you're not doing science," he has said — and that spirit is exactly what he models, and he has shown up for this community in ways that go far beyond what anyone asked of him. As a PhD candidate in UC Berkeley's Rausser College of Natural Resources , a Project Biologist at WRA, and a former docent at Jepson Prairie Nature Preserve, Mando shares and inspires, both his field experience and a deep curiosity about how human development shapes ecological systems over time.
And his contributions to SERCAL have extended into spaces you might not expect — including the visual identity of our conferences. Mando has been behind the artwork and logos that give each gathering its look and feel — designing the visual identity for SERCAL 2024 in Redlands, 2025 in Sacramento, and 2026's Adaptive by Nature in Fortuna. Three conferences. Three distinct identities. All Mando. It is a quiet but significant act of creative stewardship that often goes unnoticed.
We notice. Thank you, Mando. For your passion, your generosity, and for showing up in every way that matters. We, your community, are grateful.
