As a Restoration Technician with Point Blue’s STRAW Program in Sonoma County, I bring together the youth and community to nurture nature by restoring degraded land back to a healthy ecosystem! This involves getting down in the soil, learning the names of plants, and answering the many questions that arise when people witness the beautiful intricacies occurring in an ecosystem. For some students this may be their first time planting, taking a hike, or birding, setting my intentions for the day to be extra special.

While earning my B.A. in Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, I participated in multiple conservation and restoration projects monitoring species in various habitats to absorb the knowledge from our plant and animal teachers! I am a nomad, who will go anywhere for conservation and community building purposes. My field experiences include restoring alpine lakes for the endangered Sierra Nevada Yellow-legged frog in Yosemite National Park, actively restoring a coastal prairie, monitoring bird populations through bird banding, trail building, monitoring the breeding season of seabirds at Ano Nuevo Island, leading ecological tour guides in Costa Rica, uplifting underserved youth in rural communities through developing  a 10-Week Environmental Education Outdoor Program, and monitoring the migration of Sprague Pipits in Montana using Motus tagging devices. The impacts of these projects shaped my interests, how I lead and collaborate with different communities with different needs, and how I view what success is in this field.

I commit my energy to helping people build a relationship with nature, restoring land and species populations, personal development, and having fun! I am an educator, advocate, and collaborator, uniting people from all backgrounds to ignite powerful conversations that inspire positive change for the environment and social interactions. As you can see there’s room for all of us in this world.