Rick A. Hopkins, Ph.D.

President | Senior Conservation Biologist

As President of Live Oak Associates, Rick oversees business development and operations, directs goal setting and growth, and upholds the company's standards for Quality Assurance/Quality Control.

A nationally recognized wildlife ecologist, Rick has dedicated more than 45 years to the study of large mammalian carnivores. His proficiency extends to many other wildlife taxa, as well, and encompasses a range of ecosystems in California and elsewhere. Over the course of his career, he has focused most of his research efforts on:

  • Conservation biology

  • Population ecology

  • Movements of wildlife, particularly mammalian carnivores

  • Conservation of threatened and endangered wildlife species

  • Application of robust spatial tools to landscape-scale conservation efforts for large carnivores (e.g., cougars)

Under Rick's leadership, Live Oak Associates has not only relied on standard and traditional approaches to meeting clients' ecological needs, but where applicable, has incorporated novel and robust spatial tools to strengthen the scientific basis for, and defensibility of, ecological impact analyses and mitigation plans. This innovative approach was behind the company's successful development of a multi-species Habitat Conservation Plan for the 190-km² Elk Hills Oil Field, a cougar habitat management plan for a nearly 40,000-km² area of Southern California, conservation strategies for utility-scale solar projects in the central to southern San Joaquin Valley and Panoche Valley, and unique solutions for mitigating impacts to burrowing owls in Imperial County from a utility-scale solar project.

Since co-founding Live Oak Associates with Dave Hartesveldt in 2000, Rick has supervised interdisciplinary teams of biologists to characterize the biological setting of project sites and planning areas, determine project impacts, and develop conceptual mitigation plans, consistent with the requirements of CEQA and NEPA, for over 3,000 projects.

  • • Ph.D. Wildlands Resource Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA. 1990.

    • Dissertation Title: Ecology of the cougar in the Diablo Range.

    • M.A. Biology, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. 1981.

    • B.A. Wildlife Zoology, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. 1976.

  • Population ecology, mammalogy, predator ecology, survey techniques, wildlife/habitat relationships, conservation biology, threatened and endangered species, and environmental regulations (CEQA, NEPA, FESA, CESA

    May 21, 2026 - Morgan Hill Times Article

    ‍https://morganhilltimes.com/research-says-local-mountain-lions-are-under-threat/

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  • As a carnivore ecologist, Rick dedicates time as the current President of the Board at the non-profit Cougar Fund, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He also serves on the board of Conservation Science Partners, based out of Truckee, California, which is an applied research collective whose goals are to provide innovative analytics to solve todays conservation questions.”

    Additionally, Rick serves on the science advisor boards of Project Coyote - Marin, California, Predator Defense – Eugene, Oregon, and Humane Society of the U.S. Large Carnivore Working Group. When he is not dedicating time to these and other conservation based organizations, Rick loves bike riding, speed skating, hiking and skiing.

“Dave and I purposefully generated a corporate cultural which fosters the reliance on sound science, collaborative thinking, respect of ones co-workers and a friendly congenial atmosphere. I enjoy the team atmosphere that we have built, working with like-minded people, further conservation while solving the project issues for both private and public clients. ”
— Rick