Tomas Reyes studied environmental science at Cal Poly Humboldt before spending three years working for the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, where he inspected cannabis cultivation sites for environmental compliance. The experience gave him a ground-level understanding of how grow operations affect watersheds, how remediation works, and why the regulatory framework frustrates nearly everyone involved. He transitioned to journalism because he believed the public deserved reporting that could hold both the environmental stakes and the economic reality in the same frame. At California Bud, Tomas covers water rights, wildfire, grow site remediation, timber, conservation, and the tribal land issues that intersect all of them. He kayaks the Eel and the Mad when he is not on deadline.