From California Conservation Corps

Emily Hovendick grew up in Wyoming and served in the US Navy for two terms. She was an aviation mechanic and finished her military career as an E6. She then attended University of California, Irvine and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Archeology. In November 2014, Emily joined the California Conservation Corps’ (CCC) Camarillo Center as a Fisheries Veteran Corpsmember. She was hired to assist with population status and trend monitoring of southern California steelhead, and to help restore critical habitat for these endangered fish.

Emily worked with many of the CCC’s partner agencies and organizations, including the CA Department of Fish and Wildlife, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, South Coast Habitat Restoration, Mountain Restoration Trust, The Nature Conservancy, and Ojai Valley Land Conservancy. She worked on a variety of restoration projects, including non-native species eradication, barrier removals, and native planting projects. Emily performed over 30 miles of various types of surveys to locate and quantify steelhead habitat, spawning activity, and population status. She also attended numerous trainings through which she learned about safe herbicide usage, proper grant writing, and various field survey techniques. Emily also attended the annual Salmonid Restoration Federation Conference in Santa Rosa, CA.

Emily took advantage of all of the resources the CCC offered, including the AmeriCorps scholarship opportunity.  In May 2015, Emily left the CCC to take a job with the U.S. Forest Service as a training archeologist/firefighter. She earned this position with the fieldwork experience she gained with the CCC. Emily was always one of the hardest working Corpsmembers on any CCC project and repeatedly received praised from sponsors. She is greatly missed at the Camarillo Center!