I am a total city girl at heart, as I was born and raised in Chicago. Growing up in the city, my outdoor experiences are very different than those who grew up surrounded by the beautiful landscapes that I now protect. The closest thing to mountains were the downtown skyscrapers. To see a cactus, I would go to the Lincoln Park Conservatory; and for any wild animals, the Lincoln Park Zoo.
My love for the outdoors came from family summer fishing trips in Green Lake, Wisconsin, and weekend campouts with my Girl Scout troop at Camp Juniper Knoll. I was intrigued by the landscapes I saw only in calendars or on television.
I finally graduated college with my bachelor’s degree at the good ol’ age of 29. I was a re-entry student at UC Davis and I studied community and regional development with an emphasis in public policy and planning. I think being called a re-entry student is the nice way of saying it took me a while to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. I did know since high school that I wanted to protect the environment, but I wasn’t sure how.
A great conservation nonprofit in Northern California called Tuleyome took a chance and gave me the opportunity to make an impact and to lead. I was hired to be the campaign director for the Berryessa Snow Mountain Campaign and the executive director.
It was a job that I was really good at, and one that I enjoyed because I knew we were making a difference. In 2014, I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the 50th Anniversary Celebration Conference of the 1964 Wilderness Act, sitting in a room watching a video of all the incredible land that was protected with over 500 environmental activists from around the world, some who were involved in the movement since the 60s, others who tied themselves to trees or rocks, and others that lied down in front of bulldozers to stop destruction and stand up for what they believed in, and I knew right then and there that I am doing exactly what I was meant to do. I’m the next generation to protect America’s public lands. And I got to do just that in 2015, and I’m just getting started!
Working in collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders, elected officials, tribes, national, state, and local environmental groups, ranchers, the off highway vehicle community, equestrian groups, and mountain bike associations; we changed the United States landscape forever. On July 10th, 2015, President Obama declared Berryessa Snow Mountain a National Monument.
Then, In June of 2017, I joined the Anza-Borrego Foundation, the cooperating partner with the State of California to support the Anza Borrego State Park, as their Executive Director. We were working to protect the largest state park in California –the largest state park in the lower 48. Since then, I moved to San Diego and launched my own environmental consulting company, Wild Spirit Environmental.
We have all heard the famous John Muir quote “The mountains are calling and I must go,” but that actually was the case for me. I knew I was ready to trade in the southern California beaches for the incredible mountains of the central Sierra region. When the position became available with CSERC, I knew immediately I wanted to be here.
I am so excited and honored to be joining the CSERC team; an organization that is known for getting things done; for making a positive impact on the forests that we all love so much. This is honestly a dream come true for me and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.
I look forward to the opportunity to meet you. If you would like to learn more about me, or grab a cup of coffee when you are in Twain Harte on your next visit, or find out what important projects and issues CSERC is working on, feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected]. Happy Trails!
