Protecting Wildlife at a Spaceport: A Marine Mammal Biologist’s Mission at Vandenberg

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. — Lauren Cooley, Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands marine mammal biologist supporting the 30th Civil Engineer Squadron, traversed across the Vandenberg Space Force Base coastline in search of an elephant seal reportedly in grave danger. The elephant seal was underweight and malnourished, a sign that Cooley noticed right away. She made it her mission to intervene and save the animal.

“I quickly made my way to Honda Beach where I found a sickly and extremely underweight juvenile northern elephant seal,” said Cooley. “At this point I began to coordinate with our West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network partners at the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute. The seal’s appearance and behavior indicated that it was significantly malnourished and would likely die without intervention. Thankfully CIMWI had capacity in their marine mammal rescue center in Gaviota, so we decided to move forward with rescuing the young elephant seal.”

Cooley studied animal science as an undergraduate and fell in love with working with marine mammals during a summer internship.

“Over 10 years ago now in 2015, working at the Alaska Sea Life Center, that was my first ever experience with marine mammals, and I was just hooked from day one,” said Cooley.

Cooley got the opportunity to work with harbor seals, ice seals and seabirds, gaining hands-on experience. Now, Cooley works at Vandenberg Space Force Base, both in the field and at her office.

“A typical day for me involves both office work and fieldwork. In the office I might be working on data entry or writing a report for one of the federal regulatory agencies that we work with like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. For fieldwork, one of the major components of my job is that I plan and conduct marine mammal abundance surveys around Vandenberg Space Force Base.”

Vandenberg is home to many marine mammals including pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), cetaceans (whales and dolphins) and sea otters. Cooley routinely checks haul-out sites, which are areas along Vandenberg’s coastline where seals and sea lions congregate, such as beaches or offshore rocks. At each haul-out site, Cooley conducts marine mammal abundance counts, collecting data including animal species, sex, number of pups and behavior.

“We’re trying to determine how many marine mammals there are on the base and how their numbers change seasonally and annually, which can give us important species baseline data.”

Cooley’s work contributes to Vandenberg’s environmental conservation efforts. In addition to marine mammal survey efforts, Cooley has also worked with the 30th Civil Engineer Squadron horizontal team to keep elephant seals on the beach and out of harm's way by creating barriers to steer seals away from the roads.

For Cooley, working at Vandenberg requires navigating a constantly changing environment—not only the natural conditions along the coast, but also the different people, perspectives and priorities that intersect with the base’s mission. Her work in the field often begins with adapting to the conditions nature presents.

“The weather and tides both impact my ability to conduct fieldwork. I try to schedule my surveys during lower tides when there's more exposed beach and rocks for pinnipeds to haul-out on.”

Beyond the challenges of working in the field, Cooley has also had to adapt to how conservation fits within Vandenberg’s larger military mission.

“The military side of things was definitely a big learning experience for me. I feel like I learn something new about the military every day,” said Cooley. “From my perspective as a biologist, the unique part of this job has been the balancing of environmental conservation and stewardship of natural resources, while understanding that this is ultimately an active military base.”

The conservation efforts of Cooley and her team can’t go unnoticed. There was an average of 118 pinnipeds per survey in 2025, compared with 179 pinnipeds per survey thus far in 2026. Overall, pinniped usage of Vandenberg haul-out locations appears to be stable, with seasonal and annual population fluctuations consistent with broader California populations for these species.

Tiffany Whitsitt-Odell, 30th Civil Engineer Squadron natural resource manager, played a pivotal role in the May rescue of a northern elephant seal that was rehabilitated and eventually released at Caliente Beach. The juvenile elephant seal was rescued from Vandenberg Space Force Base on May 5, 2026, and was successfully released on July 21, 2026.

Whitsitt-Odell recognized her colleague, Cooley, for her outstanding efforts in the field and successfully bringing the seal to a marine mammal rescue center.

“She’s an integral part of the team,” said Whitsitt-Odell. “She contributes to more than just surveys. She’s involved with coordinating outreach and education, responding to marine mammal strandings and maintaining relationships with outside entities.”

Working with animals for the last decade has changed Cooley’s perspective and relationship with them. That experience has also shaped how she approaches her role at Vandenberg Space Force Base, where understanding and protecting wildlife is part of the broader mission of environmental stewardship. The base’s coastal location and diverse habitats make conservation an important consideration alongside its space and national security missions.

“When I was greener and just starting out in the marine mammal field, I thought that we could always know what to expect from animals, that we could predict all of their behaviors and how they might respond to things,” said Cooley. “I thought there would be an equation that you could follow, or that you could read a scientific journal article that would tell you the answers.”

Over time, Cooley learned that environmental stewardship requires more than simply applying established scientific knowledge. It means observing animals closely, adapting to their individual behaviors and recognizing that protecting the environment can require flexibility and patience.

“The older I get and the more work experience I gain, I have learned to expect the unexpected,” said Cooley. “And we might anticipate that an animal might behave in one way – but at the end of the day, they're an individual.”

That unpredictability is part of what makes Cooley’s work both challenging and rewarding. Each encounter provides another opportunity to learn about the animals living in and around Vandenberg, reinforcing the importance of careful observation and responsible stewardship.

“You might expect to see one thing, but nature will always have some sort of surprise in store,” Cooley said. “It's been a good lesson realizing that animals have individual personalities, just like humans do.”

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