The University of California, Berkeley, Institute for Parks, People, and Biodiversity welcomes Dr. Deniss Martinez, researcher at the University of California, Davis, as a new Research Affiliate.
Deniss Martinez earned her Ph.D. in ecology at UC Davis, conducting applied research with Indigenous communities in California on Indigenous cultural fire practices. She is a community-engaged environmental justice scholar and, currently, Research Administrator of the UC Davis project Planning Landscape Resilience for California Indian Allotment Lands.
She conducts research into forest management policies and restoring cultural fire practices for Indigenous communities across California and teaches cultural Indigenous practices, environmental justice, and policy to undergraduates. For this and other work, the University of California honored Deniss with a 2022 President’s Award for Outstanding Student Leadership and the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation awarded her a 2021-2022 Switzer Fellowship.
Deniss joins the Institute to serve as Guest Editor for a theme issue of Parks Stewardship Forum on Indigenous co-stewardship of public lands. The issue will be the principal written outcome of a workshop organized by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, the UC Berkeley Institute for Parks, People, and Biodiversity, and partners, February 21-22, 2024. Deniss will guide and shape the content of the theme issue, collaborating especially with workshop speakers and other key voices on Indigenous co-stewardship.
Deniss Martinez will serve as a Research Affiliate for calendar year 2024, the first Research Affiliate of the Institute and the first affiliate from another university.
Deniss Martinez. Photo by University of California, Davis.