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!
