People

Zach has been managing trail operations for the ATA since 2017 but has been actively involved with the Arizona trail since 2005 as a volunteer crew lead and served on the Board of directors for a number of years. He organized a weekday crew of a dozen dedicated volunteers, now known affectionately as the “Usual Suspects” who did the finish work for much of the Tucson area passages. He is an avid mountain biker, hiker, backpacker, adventurer, lover of the outdoors and past President of the Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists, where he helped develop fundraising events and worked with volunteers and land managers to maintain multi-use trails in southern Arizona. He worked as Trails Foreman for the Sandia Ranger District in Albuquerque, NM. He is passionate about protecting the land and our access to it, working in coordination with land managers, both paid and volunteer crews, and trail users to help protect, maintain and enhance the sustainability of the Arizona Trail for future generations.

Environmental education professional with experience in outreach and recruiting.

 

I am interested in helping teachers and environmental groups form sustained partnerships. I am an Instructional Materials and Professional Learning Specialist at NSTA and I also teach Env Sci and Biology at Macomb Community College as well as Classes for pre-service teachers in the College of Education at GVSU.

Sydney spent the bulk of her childhood learning and growing under the canopy of the southeastern deciduous forests that make up her home state of Virginia. She earned her B.A. in International Studies with a minor in Environmental Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Following her undergraduate schooling, she began working as a youth environmental educator, leading her to eventually pursue her M.A. in the University of Utah's Environmental Humanities Program to study how nature-based programs can better support nature-connections across diverse groups. While in Utah, she also co-founded Camping in Color, an overnight program designed for black youth and their families in the Salt Lake Valley area to enhance a sense of belonging, appreciation, and engagement in the outdoors. She joins the Natural Start Alliance team excited to further her work in making quality early childhood environmental education more accessible to all.

In addition to my work with Impact by Design where I focus on behavior change campaigns for conservation, I am also a PhD candidate at the University of Florida in Martha Monroe's lab in the School of Forest Resources and Conservation where I focus on psychological connection to nature and STEM EE.

I am a recent Environmental graduate that is just beginning her journey within the field. 

Research Interests: Environmental education of families, communities, and businesses on the importance of ecosystems and their services. Current Project: Conceptual understanding and practices that help guide present and future generations towards social, economic, and environmental sustainability.