SCA 2010-2013
U.S. Forest Service Intern, Chippewa National Forest
SCA 2013: Crew Leader, Seattle Community Crew
SCA 2012: CDIP Biology Intern, USFWS SNEP Program
SCA 2012: Alternative Spring Break, Santa Monica Mountains
SCA 2011-2012: AmeriCorps Member, SCA New Hampshire Corps
SCA 2010: Alternative Spring Break, Grand Canyon National Park
Hometown:Bellevue/Seattle, WA
College:
Western Washington University
Current Occupation:
U.S. Forest Service Intern, Chippewa National Forest
What led you down the path to conservation?
I enjoy being outdoors and if it’s possible to have a job that doesn’t seem like a job, why not? Conservation work keeps me happy and lets me explore while getting paid to do so.
How did SCA impact your life and career?
Serving with SCA during my gap year gave me time to reflect on what I really wanted to go to school for, and what I wanted to do afterwards. I don’t have a long-term plan laid out in precise detail, but I do have goals I’ll be hitting in the near future.
What’s your most memorable SCA moment?
There are too many moments to have just one… but New Hampshire Corps was a blast. I equally loved living in Bear Brook State Park and being on hitch in the White Mountains.
What’s today’s most pressing conservation issue from your perspective? Why?
All conservation issues are interconnected, but I’ll go with water. Although it seems like we have plenty of water in northern states like Washington or Minnesota, water scarcity is becoming more of a problem outside of areas like California and the Southwest. Even without regards to quantity, the quality of water in terms of temperature and pollutants among other factors is something we need to be aware of. In a state like Washington where salmon is a major industry, warming temperatures and outdated dams blocking historic spawning sites are serious threats to the salmon population. There’s a lot more that could be said about water, and all the other conservation issues that revolve around it.
Read more about Venice’s SCA experiences on her Follow Me blog.