Rachel moved to Flagstaff from the temperate rainforests of Alaska in 2012. She described feeling like a metaphorical and literal fish out of water when she moved to the desert Southwest. She volunteered on a trip to the Paria Canyon in 2012 and knew she had to work more in these beautiful landscapes with the passionate group of people she met at the Trust. From 2013-2014, she served an AmeriCorps term in the Volunteer Program working primarily with volunteer botanists on trips and trainings for the Utah Forests Program. Rachel’s hopes for the future of conservation are that we work not only for the preservation of wild and beautiful places, but that we also re-integrate our lifestyles to be in-line with the connections between people, community, and landscape. On a perfect Colorado Plateau day, Rachel would be painting the sunrise over Vermilion Cliffs on the porch of Kane Ranch, followed by a hike up the Kaibab Plateau Monocline to photograph the intricacies of cactus flowers.