With nearly 20 years of hands-on experience in the outdoors, I bring both practical field knowledge and a deep commitment to public lands stewardship to my work. My background includes extensive “boots on the ground” experience in backcountry travel, navigation, and wilderness safety, as well as years of advocacy supporting the protection and responsible use of public lands.

I have served on the board of directors for both the Alabama Environmental Council and Support Public Lands, contributing to conservation advocacy and public lands education at both the state and national levels. In addition to advocacy work, I have collaborated directly with agency staff on wilderness stewardship initiatives, including contributing to wilderness character baseline documentation for Alabama’s three federally designated wilderness areas and assisting the U.S. Forest Service with wilderness stewardship performance measures and the development of Minimum Requirements Analysis Framework (MRAF) processes.

My fieldwork includes conducting multiple wilderness inventories across Alabama’s three designated wilderness areas, including recreation site inventories, solitude monitoring, non-native invasive plant species surveys, and social trail inventories using national protocols. I have also participated in numerous backcountry search and rescue efforts.

I hold certifications as a Leave No Trace Level 1 Instructor and Wilderness First Responder, and I completed a certificate in Wilderness Stewardship through the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands. I currently serve as the Alabama Leave No Trace State Advocate and, as a Leave No Trace educator, have delivered hundreds of workshops, led Level 1 Instructor courses, and assisted Landmark Learning with Level 2 Instructor courses, bringing both depth of experience and a strong teaching foundation to my instruction. I am also a Leopold Land Ethic Educator.

In 2022, I was honored to receive an Individual Wilderness Stewardship Award from the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance and the Society for Wilderness Stewardship in recognition of my contributions to protecting and preserving wild places.

While my path in the outdoors has recently shifted due to health and mobility challenges, my commitment to this work has not. Transitioning to a fully virtual format has allowed me to continue doing what I care deeply about—sharing knowledge, supporting stewardship, and helping others build meaningful, responsible relationships with the natural world.

Through my courses, I aim to pass on not just skills, but perspective—so that whether someone is stepping onto a trail for the first time or managing public lands professionally, they feel confident, capable, and connected to the responsibility we all share in caring for wild places.