SCA Alumni Council Bios

Originally from Minnesota, Greg attended college at Marquette University in Milwaukee where he studied Economics and International Affairs. He joined the SCA in 2008 when he spent a year as an AmeriCorps volunteer with the SCA’s New Hampshire Conservation Corps at Bear Brook State Park. He taught environmental education to fourth graders and spent the summer and fall leading trail crews on projects including stone staircase construction, and a carpentry project building yurts in the White Mountains. In 2009 and 2010, he worked on an SCA Leader Crew in Pennsylvania and led four SCA National Crews on the Appalachian Trail in Massachusetts, Grand Teton National Park, Denali National Park and on the Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon.

Greg’s work in conservation inspired him to pursue a graduate program in economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to apply an economics-based approach to conservation. In addition to training in economic modeling and research in environmental economics, Greg also published a paper on local food systems and community economic development and worked as a Teaching Assistant for World Hunger and Malnutrition. Following completion of his master’s thesis in 2011, Greg worked on another SCA Leader Crew on the PCT in southern California. He now lives in Seattle, WA where he works as an economic consultant to international development NGOs, is an SCA Conservation Work Skills Instructor, is a leader with SCA’s Seattle Community Crew Program, and works as the field guide and conservationist for the Nature Valley Trail View initiative in the National Parks. He is also a member of the planning committee for the Partnership for the National Trails conference.

Greg’s work with SCA has brought him to 17 states and allowed him to see some of the most beautiful places on earth. His other interests and hobbies include hockey, Ultimate Frisbee, triathlons, fly-fishing, backpacking, and organic farming. Email Greg

Jamey is one of the many SCA alums who got their first job as a direct result of an SCA internship. After graduating from college and spending a few months abroad, Jamey was accepted to SCA's Congressional-National Park Internship, which took him to the Interior Department in DC, where he now works, and to Acadia National Park in Maine, where he learned how conservation works at the local level. While at Acadia, Jamey saw the disproportionate influence young people can have on critical conservation projects. Among the young staff at Acadia were invasive-species eradicators, medical first-responders, trail builders, and educators. Young people helped the Park in numerous ways--from increasing the use of technology to better tell the Park's unique story to inventorying light fixtures to help the Park save electricity and preserve the night sky. Young people are making real and meaningful impacts to conservation projects like these all across the country, and Jamey is working to see that their stories are told whenever possible.

Johanna grew up close to SCA's National Conservation Center in nearby Springfield, Vermont, where she developed an environmentally conscious spirit at a young age. She participated in her first SCA high school crew at 15 in Denali National Park, AK, and joined her second crew a year later in Yosemite National Park, CA. During college, she spent three amazing months in the back-country of Flathead National Forest, MT, learning the ins and outs of trail construction as an SCA Intern. In 2009, she had a blast leading an SCA high school crew in Amistad National Recreation Area, TX.

Johanna studied Biology at Oberlin College with minors in Chemistry and Dance, and has assisted with ecological entomology research projects (aka bugs!!) at Oberlin, Cornell University and Harvard Forest. Additionally, she spent a semester abroad in Tanzania to study wildlife management and land use conflict in the Kwakuchinja wildlife corridor. Johanna currently works at the Climate and Land Use Alliance in San Francisco, CA, where she assists with international grantmaking that aims to reduce global carbon emissions by preventing deforestation and enhancing indigenous peoples' rights. In her free time, Johanna enjoys dancing, biking, and general gallivanting around the San Francisco Bay Area.

At the John Muir National Historic Site, I lead visitors through John Muir’s Victorian mansion, which showcases the original desk where he penned his ideas on the importance of preserving national spaces. As permanent park guide, I share my passion for the earth through ranger programs, conversation, and writing. After graduating from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in parks management, I decided to join AmeriCorps with the intent of giving back, a small “thank you” for life’s generous gifts. My introduction to the conservation field and the NPS began with an SCA internship at Montezuma Castle National Monument in Arizona. I was hooked, and resolved to travel, work in beautiful places, and learn and grow in ways I never before considered. At SCA Massachusetts, I shared my knowledge with students and carved trails and tree trunks with the chainsaw. In exchange, I learned the meaning of community and how to live close to the land. Afterward, I called the Grand Canyon home as an SCA habitat restoration intern before landing a job at Lassen Volcanic National Park. While serving with the NPS, I plan to keep merging my love of communication and conservation, with the idea that words can translate first to appreciation, then to action. My hope is to alight sparks, to kindle not only appreciation of these special places, but the desire to DO something, to live more consciously and lightly. I am thrilled to be involved again with the SCA, and to help enrich the lives of others while we all work towards more harmonious living.