Growing up in rural southern Wisconsin, I always had an affinity for the outdoors. My family would often take multi-weeklong canoe trips to the Quetico Provincial Park in Canada, which helped form my interest in natural resources and wildlife conservation. After high school I was not interested in immediately going to college, I worked various trade skill jobs and as an arborist before deciding upon attending college. Wanting a change and adventure, I moved to Alaska where I had some family living. There, I enlisted in the Army as an Airborne Infantryman and attended the University of Alaska for two-years before transferring to the University of Colorado to finish up my degree in Earth Science and GIS.

While attending the University of Colorado and finishing up my enlistment, I worked with a small local nonprofit doing communications and programming for four years while also doing seasonal natural resource work for a local city park. While living in Denver I enjoyed and took full advantage of hiking fourteeners, camping, fishing, amazing restaurants, and the fun craft beer scene. For several years I have been looking forward to moving back home to Wisconsin, so I was ecstatic to be a part of the 2021 Future Leaders cohort as a Land Stewardship Fellow. Now, I am very excited to continue my journey with the Aldo Leopold Foundation by helping to coordinate the 2022 crane season program!