Making My Dream a Reality

As far back as I can remember, I've always been passionate about animals and nature. I spent summers outdoors and loved playing in the creeks that wind through Cowley County. I wasn't afraid to climb a tree in a dress or pick up a toad I found in the garden. I loved getting dirty and still do.

I've always gone out of my way to recycle and I've been hounding Brandt to use reusable bags (we're almost there!). A primary reason for moving to Oregon was my desire to live in a place that values the environment as much as I do and hopefully get a job working to save the natural world. In April, I finally made that dream a reality and joined WildEarth Guardians as their Membership Manager.

Guardians' mission is protect and restore wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and the health of the American West. We believe in respecting and valuing nature, which has always been my personal belief. We focus on protecting public lands and rivers as well as the wildlife that live on them. We're fighting to keep national monuments public and prevent any more oil and gas leases on public land. We're passionate about the Rio Grande's right to its own water and fighting to keep it from drying up, as it does every year due to over consumption. We're currently fighting Colorado Parks and Wildlife's new policy to kill bears and mountain lions in a "study" to see how it affects mule deer populations. They're shooting the carnivores from helicopters, using bear traps, chasing them down with hounds, and poisoning them. Not only is this inhumanely killing the bears and mountain lions but it's not truly a study because they don't know how many are living in the wild and there's science showing the mule deer aren't repopulating as fast as CPW would like due to loss of habitat, not predation. The kicker is that citizens have come out in force against this plan and CPW has gone ahead any way.

We have offices based across the West and some people who work from home if they don't live near an office. Our staff retreat a few weeks ago offered me my first opportunity to meet everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting my colleagues and learning about our programs. I'm proud to join an organization of people who are as passionate about saving our natural world as much as I am. They're intelligent, strong-willed, and will do what it takes to speak for the wildlife across the west and their habitats.

We speak for the voiceless and I've wanted to dedicate my life to restoring and saving nature before humanity completely destroys it. This job gives me the opportunity to dedicate my career to that which I am most passionate. I am truly looking forward to standing up for the native species, rivers, and lands in the West.