Mike Wells completed a 34-year career with California State Parks in 2010. His first permanent assignment in 1977 was Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, where he served as a state park ranger. Over the next three decades he enjoyed assignments in the Sierra Nevada foothills, coastal redwoods, and beaches, serving as a ranger, resource ecologist, and park superintendent. His final assignment was district superintendent of the Colorado Desert District, which includes ABDSP. Mike has a PhD in physical geography from a joint program with San Diego State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara. His area of study is fire ecology of southern California forest and chaparral communities. He was a lecturer for the Department of Biology, University of San Diego, from 2001–2017.