Profile
Basic Info
First Name |
Katie |
Last Name |
Beechem |
Display Name |
Katie Beechem |
Your Affiliated Organization |
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies |
Job Title |
Master of Forestry Student |
About You |
I, Katie Beechem, am a Reforestation Crew Member with the Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability. An aspiring naturalist and outdoor enthusiast, I am enamored with the abundance and diversity of Earth's organisms. Through careful observation and prolific research, I wish to better understand the complexity of ecosystems and preserve them for the enrichment of future generations. I grew up in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, where I spent more time climbing trees, exploring creeks, building leaf piles, and jumping off swing sets than I did dressing dolls or playing house. This enjoyment of the outdoors increased exponentially upon our move to the forests of the Pacific Northwest. There, I spent time hiking the local buttes, traversing mountain trails, and backpacking twisted canyons. In high school at South Eugene, I clung to the words of Aldo Leopold and Annie Dillard. I drooled over Jack London and William Wordsworth. I also spent a summer on a trail crew with the Northwest Youth Corps, where I received inspiring mentorship from the beautiful Juliette Olejnik. Later I moved to Towson, Maryland and earned my bachelor of arts degree in biology from Goucher College. Intrigued by the paradoxes of Baltimore City and concerned with the state of the Chesapeake Bay, I stayed in the Mid-Atlantic and found work with the Conservation Department of the National Aquarium and with the environmental nonprofit, Clean Water Action. With a tip from my former ecology professor, I was accepted into the first class of Chesapeake Conservation Corps volunteers. Through this exceptional program, I was placed with Baltimore County, where I eventually came to be hired as a full-time member of the Reforestation Crew. As member of the crew, I work with three extremely knowledgeable and personable hillbillies. Carrying stakes, hammers, tubes, and senses of wonder (and humor), we mitigate development projects with extensive tree plantings. We are fortunate to work in some of the county's best kept secrets: converted agricultural lands, sandy stream banks, rolling grasslands, and remarkably remote residential estates. With the help of my coworkers, I am greatly expanding my knowledge of the local ecology, geology, and history. Never do I feel so truly fulfilled as when I am looking back on a completed project, watching a red-shouldered hawk soar overhead, and listening to the gentle babble of a nearby creek. |
Email Address |