Amber Leavitt is a Coastal Planner for the North Coast District of the California Coastal Commission, focusing on transportation projects as a Caltrans liaison. In this role she analyzes and permits transportation projects, ensuring minimal adverse environmental, visual, and public access impacts to the coast. As part of the transportation team, she also works on special projects, statewide programmatic efforts, and increasing interagency coordination and communication with Caltrans District 1.
Amber was a CivicSpark Fellow for two years with two different placement sites. In the 2018-2019 Service Year, Amber served as a Water Fellow with Nevada Irrigation District in Grass Valley, working on the development of the District’s first Healthy Forest Management and Wildfire Mitigation Plan, related fieldwork, and various public outreach and education efforts. In the 2019-2020 Service Year, Amber was a Climate Fellow with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) where she primarily worked on the development of BCDC’s San Francisco Bay Plan Climate Change Policy Guidance. Amber also supported other work related to regional sea level rise adaptation, an amendment to BCDC’s compensatory mitigation policies, and BCDC’s internal Racial Equity Team.
Amber grew up in Salinas, California and graduated from the University of California, Davis in 2018 with a BS in Environmental Science and Management and an emphasis in Natural Resource Management. She recently moved to Arcata, California. In her free time, Amber likes to hike, camp, play board games, read, listen to podcasts, and go to local breweries with friends.
Current Fellows can ask her about: coastal planning, coastal policy, sea level rise, working for a state agency, applying for a state job, doing two years of CivicSpark, career decisions, or anything else she might be able to help with.