“My passion and expertise are in conservation and land management with a focus on fire and forest ecology, ecological restoration, climate change and California natural history. I am committed to science-based management and thinking at the landscape scale.”

Alison Forrestel, PhD is the Chief of Natural Resources and Science for Golden Gate National Recreation Area where she leads ecological restoration, management, and science programs across 80,000 acres of National Park Service lands and waters in and around San Francisco, California. She also leads the Golden Gate Biosphere Network, which brings together land and water conservation organizations in the Bay Area under the umbrella of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program. Her background and expertise are in conservation and land management with a focus on fire and forest ecology, ecological restoration, landscape scale conservation, and creating park communities that are welcoming, inclusive and relevant to all people. She has worked for the National Park Service for close to 20 years including serving as the Fire Ecologist for the San Francisco Bay Area Network National Parks and Vegetation Ecologist at Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  She holds a PhD in Fire Ecology from the University of California, Berkeley and a master’s degree in Forest Ecology from Yale University’s School of the Environment. She grew up in the Great Lakes region and has been a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area for the last several decades where she enjoys sharing in the wonder of local parks and biodiversity with her two small children.