She joined the faculty at UC Berkeley in 1987 and since 1988, has served as Faculty Director of the UCB/UC Natural Reserve System’s Angelo Coast Range Reserve in west-central Mendocino Co. Over that time, she has increasingly engaged with local groups and communities concerned with stewardship and restoration of the Eel River and its watershed, as well as other stewardship concerns including forest resilience and native grassland restoration.
Power’s research group has studied how year-to-year changes in hydrologic regimes and changes in productivity down drainage networks affect the interactions of riverine organisms, ranging from algae and bacteria through invertebrates to vertebrate predators like fish, bats, and birds. They are also studying linkages of the Eel River ecosystem to forested or grass uplands and estuarine and coastal waters offshore. Power is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Science, the California Academy of Science, and the Academia Europaea. She currently is lead author for the chapter on Inland Waters of the US for the National Nature Assessment, a parallel effort to the National Climate Assessment.
She joined the Save the Redwoods League in 2016 and has previously served on the Science and the Tribal Relations Committees.
