Tate Luoma is a contractor for the Environmental Mapping team. Tate’s background is in forestry, wildfire behavior, and environmental compliance. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and a minor in Forestry & Natural Resources from UC Berkeley. Her senior thesis worked to identify policy barriers inhibiting timely and effective forest restoration after wildfires in Plumas County, which became part of the required curriculum at UC Berkeley’s Forestry Camp.

Prior to joining SIG, Tate served as the Assistant Program Manager for Berkeley Fire Department’s Wildland Urban Interface Division, where she supervised the Defensible Space Inspection Program, developed fuels mitigation projects and resident support programs, and trained fire interns. Tate then transitioned to environmental compliance work as a wildfire consultant for Rincon. As a consultant, she supported various wildfire projects, authored the Ventura Regional Priority Plan, and designed a compost application cost sharing program to increase carbon sequestration for the City of San Mateo. Tate is also experienced in field data collection and analysis, as well as GIS and scientific writing.

Tate is currently pursuing her Master’s in Environmental Management at the University of San Francisco. She is focusing her studies on ecology, GIS, and wildfire science. With USF’s Geospatial Analysis Lab, she conducts research to identify gaps in prescribed fire science, developing guiding principles for partnerships between prescribed burn associations and universities. Tate intends to use her master’s project to design a framework for integrating forest restoration and wildfire mitigation management practices.