The Beginning

I grew up just outside of Portland, Oregon with most of my free time spent on Mt. Hood Meadows skiing during the winter, and hiking the Coastal Range during the summer. My dream at the time was to enlist in the Marine Corps and make a career out of the military and retire by 38 years old with that 20 year military pension. Twenty years seemed like a long time and being near 40 sounded even farther away, so I naturally didn't work out what retirement looked like, that would happen around year 15 I told myself.

The Military

I enlisted with the Marine Corps as soon as I could. I took the much hyped up job (from the recruiter) as a Combat Engineer, which was sold as, "Pretty much infantry, but with explosives." With that, I was off to MCRD San Diego three days after high school graduation to start my new career. Three years later and in the middle of a deployment, I started thinking about what the career path I'm on would look like in five, ten, and fifteen years and decided to give college a try in order to earn a commission and become an officer. Three years later, and with a degree from Northern Arizona University, I had switched branches and commissioned through the Army's Officer Candidate School (OCS) program as an infantry officer.

The Transition

The excitement for the military died down after several trips hiking, and climbing mountains across Eastern Europe, Austria, Germany, and Norway with seeing first hand how quickly glaciers were retreating from their historical coverage, heat waves that would force us to find new routes or reduce our trip objectives. As I became more aware and impacted personally from a changing climate I became more embolden to take action. Unfortunately, staying in the military and working to reduce human impact on the environment didn't align and I started the process to finally leave the military for good.

I had originally wanted to become a certified international mountain guide through the American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) and help lead research teams to areas to study glaciers, and climate change. To do this I had to go graduate school to learn the new field of environmental science, which was perfect because I would use that time to work on my guiding skills.

Get to know me

During my first career in the military, I was able to experience a wide range of people, culture, environments, and priorities. From cultures who lived under the constant threat of war to those who were under constant threat of their natural environment forever changing due to factors out of their control. I witnessed several types of responses, but one resonated with me the most, indifference. I realized that I was living my life through the lens of indifference and needed to change.

Urban Forestry