Member Bios

I spent most of my time growing up in the “Sunshine State” 15 min from the beach in Jacksonville, FL. I spent 4 years at the University of Florida (GO GATORS!) and graduated in May 2011 with my B.S. in Geography and minors in Environmental Science and Sustainability Studies. During the summer after my sophomore year I joined my first SCA crew in the Delaware Water Gap NRA, building timber steps, treating Hemlock pines for the invasive Wooly Adelgid and planting over 300 trees. It changed my life by creating a passion for environmental conservation, which influenced my university studies, and I have been a hardcore SCA enthusiast ever since! Since graduation I have spent the past year and a half in continuous SCA internships. I moved up to the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park for a year-long internship as the GIS Specialist making maps and helping with natural resource management (water quality monitoring, invasive removal, and biology.) When that ended in August I jumped on down to New Orleans for 3 months, working for the USFWS as a biology intern at the SE Louisiana Wildlife Refuges. I got to help with endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker monitoring, wild hog removal and even had the chance to visit the 2nd oldest refuge in the country 30 miles out in the Gulf on Breton Island!

I’ve been on the east coast and gulf coast so I figured it was time to come check out the west coast! Traveling is one of my favorite things to do so I am super stoked to spend the next 6 months out here in the beautiful Napa Valley and exploring all over the western seaboard! I am looking forward to building awesome trails, getting chainsaw and crosscut certified, and training to hopefully lead and influence the next generation of environmental conservation activists! Y’all come back now, ya here!

Howdy! I'm Andy - Or Andrew John Heller if you're not into the whole brevity thing. I grew up near the beach in New Jersey and I went to the University of Rhode Island. While in college, I studied Marine Affairs and Underwater Archaeology. I spent this past summer in the Adirondack Mountains in New York as a part of another SCA corps working for the Department of Environmental Conservation. My crew and I spent five months working around the park constructing and repairing trails for hiking and snowmobile use, as well as building bridges with both rustic timber and dimensional lumber. I like to spend my free time trying to defy gravity, although it does get the best of me at times. I believe that as a young and able-bodied person, it is my duty to give back to the planet for everything that it has provided me. I hope that this season will prepare me for many more years of service, and allow me to lead crews for the SCA so that I can help other people with similar beliefs as mine to give back to the planet.

My name is Ben Dunphey. I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA. I graduated from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in May of 2012 where I studied Environmental Science with focuses on mapping and recreation. I have been doing conservation work since 2006 when I started with SCA as a high school member. Since then I have completed three high school crews as a member and two as a leader, spent a summer as an intern and most recently participated in the SCA Idaho AmeriCorps program. When not working I enjoy mountain and road biking, mountaineering and pretty much anything outdoors. I chose to participate in this program because I have not had the opportunity to build a trail to standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act. I am very excited to have the chance to spend time learning to build trails to ADA standard and to have the chance to explore Northern California.

The tall tales of Pecos Bill hold nothing but a candle to the grandiose stories told of Ryan Hughes. Born on the golden plains and rolling hills of Eastern Oklahoma, Ryan grew up tangling with tornadoes and wrangling water moccasins. After toiling in the muddy waters of the Arkansas and Cimarron Rivers, Ryan first allowed himself to be called a cowboy upon enrolling at Oklahoma State University. After four long years, Ryan discovered that he had in fact graduated, with a degree in English, and like one of his favorite characters, Huck Finn, Hughes lit out for the western territories. Since he left his prairie home, Ryan has stared down rattlesnakes on a trail crew in the Blue Mountains of Oregon and Washington, his skin grew thick and rough under the blazing sun of the Mojave Desert, he took his licks as a wildland firefighter for the Umatilla National Forest, survived a winter in the snow at Steven's Pass Ski Resort in Washington, and caught his breath atop the Pacific Crest of California. Now he has set his sets on greener pastures among the grapevines of Napa. Shall the allure take hold of our hero and see him embrace the easy living of the bay or will this abundant country as well see his wide brim fade into the sunset.

Camilo Gonzalez recently graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelors in Political Science. He is currently participating in SCA Massachusetts and is looking forward to learning various new skills pertaining to environmental education and conservation. This is his first environmental position though he’s had some minimal exposure through political science classes. His other interests include acting, dancing, singing, swimming, running, philosophy, and French & Spanish culture & language.