Golden Valley Wilderness 2011-2012
Project Leader: Matt Duarte Project Dates: September 13, 2011 - May 19, 2012 Phone: 760-780-8039 Email: mduarte@thesca.org Address: 300 Richmond Avenue Ridgecrest, CA 93555
Matt Duarte
After serving as a Restoration Corps member during 2009-10, it's a thrill to return to the desert as a project leader. This program draws incredible participants, and once again, I am eager to contribute in building a community of crews resolved to positively influence the health of our lands.
My roots extend to the Tar Heel State of North Carolina, although I've had the fortune of traveling far and wide in the past several years. This past spring, among other joys in the Portland-area, I taught sixth-graders about the natural history of the Douglas Fir forests surrounding Mount Hood, Oregon.
This season I'm stoked to multiply talents as a backcountry kitchen wizard, as well as enrich an ethnobotanical perspective of the Mojave. I'd also like to climb mountains and laugh...a lot.
Stuart Wilkins
This will be my second time working for the SCA and my anticipation is at an all-time high. I grew up in West Texas and Coastal South Carolina and spent all my summers in either Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau or Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. I should be entering my junior year at Clemson University, but I am taking this year off to join the Golden Valley Crew in the Mojave Desert. The option to trade in my textbooks for work boots and dirt could not have sounded more appealing. The Mojave has always had my interest, so when the SCA came-a- knocking, I came-a-running. Field experience that could foster my environmental education sounds so nice to me, the choice came naturally.
Conservation is an important cause to me. So many of the places I cherish are threatened and giving back to an area that needs help means a lot to me. This experience will provide me with opportunities to build friendships and push myself to my physical limits. Along with experience comes wisdom and happiness. The people I will meet will have numerous characteristics to admire and learning from them will be a privilege. Not to mention that we will be in one of the most incredibly beautiful regions of the country. This opportunity seems surreal at times and I am honored to have been selected to this crew.
Ryan Stewart
This will be my first time in the desert, and my first time west of Colorado for that matter. I've been in a fair amount of wilderness settings, but I've lived most of my life under Cleveland's gray skies. I just graduated from a tiny liberal arts school in Indiana with a major in philosophy. I am looking forward to being back in a small community environment and getting a chance to explore a new landscape.
As far as who I am, I like to think I am somewhere between the village idiot and the philosopher. I get caught up in lofty impractical thoughts, but they are usually concerned primarily with how ridiculous everything is. I am looking forward to switching gears from lofty impracticality to genuine hard work.
This summer I am leading a 3-week canoe trip in northern Ontario, teaching lessons on wilderness ethics and paddling through the world's largest canoe reservation. I've worked with a lot of wilderness programs and being outside of modern-society makes me a whole lot less insecure and a lot more reflective, so naturally I am really excited about working in the desert with the SCA.
Kelsey Navarre
Hailing from Toledo, Ohio, Kelsey Navarre is a recent college graduate looking for adventure before reentering the world of academia for a master’s degree. This past summer she worked on an amazing SCA crew in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness in Minnesota, removing invasive plant species. Wanting to see a completely different part of the country and explore different aspects of conservation, she is excited to join the Desert Restoration Corps. In her spare time she enjoys playing guitar, kayaking, listening to live music and crocheting.
Dave Inglis
Dave spent his childhood on the east coast—split between southeast Virginia and Ontario, Canada. The only boy among three sisters (one of them his fraternal twin) Dave learned to seek refuge in the outdoors at an early age. He graduated college in 2007 with a degree in Urban Planning and Geography, and set out to travel the globe. His travels took him through Europe and Asia several times and all over the U.S. and Canada. Realizing that he would never find fulfillment sitting behind a desk, Dave headed out west, in search of something new. He currently resides in Lake Tahoe, California, where he's become an expert at living harmoniously with bears. Dave has a thirst for travel and adventure and enjoys all things outdoors. When not biking around town, you can almost certainly find him hiking in the backcountry, floating down some river, or building trails. He is excited to add Desert Restoration to his list of life experiences.
Chauncey Smith
Working as a corps member will be my first job after graduating in May from University of Vermont with a degree in Environmental Sciences. As a Pennsylvanian transplant in Vermont and having studied abroad in the Fiji Islands, I have worked on a variety of projects in all types of climates. Apart from school, I’ve spent a few months doing soil science fieldwork, running a natural science camp, an animal tracking after-school program and work with remote sensing and GIS.
In my spare time I enjoy arts and crafts, bicycling, traveling, cooking, and recreational games.
I’m looking forward to not needing to shovel out my bicycle or car once this winter. I’m happy to be a part of this team, and excited about what we can accomplish together.
Audrey Hommeyer
Hey, I’m Audrey. Although I have lived through notoriously cold Minnesotan winters my entire life, I have loved almost every moment of them being a Nordic Ski Racer. My passion for skiing and the outdoors has been influenced by annual camping trips I have taken with my family for as long as I can remember. As I grew older, we started planning canoeing trips to Quetico in Canada and the Boundary Waters Canoeing Area in Minnesota. I actually just returned from a 12-day trip to the BWCA! I already miss sleeping under the stars and waking up to breath-taking sunrises. I can’t wait to get out into the desert and experience a wilderness and climate completely different from what I am used to. Ciao vicious Minnesotan mosquitoes!
My love for nature and my involvement with a CSA organic farm has developed my interest in environmental restoration and food production. The restoration fieldwork is one of the aspects I am most looking forward to while being a part of the Golden Valley Wilderness crew. In the future, I plan to continue studying environmental and agricultural issues. I am extremely excited to meet the crew, to grow and learn throughout this experience, and to live in and connect with the desert!
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SCA on the Web
| Map of Grass Valley Wilderness |
| Map of Golden Valley Wilderness |
| Learn about the BLM and our Wilderness Areas |
| Matt Duarte |
| Stuart Wilkins |
| Ryan Stewart |
| Kelsey Navarre |
| Dave Inglis |
| Chauncey Smith |
| Audrey Hommeyer |
