Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wis., Natalie spent summers and holidays ‘up north’ running around wide-open spaces with her cousins and helping out with her extended family’s farm chores. At an early age, she developed a love for the fresh air of the outdoors and a strong desire to hike, camp and generally romp around in nature admiring the plants, trees, streams, birds, butterflies and all things large and small, including bears.
It was when Natalie moved to Colorado to obtain her Master’s degree in Social Work that she acquired an appreciation for the Mountain West and its wild spaces. She has been conservation-minded since she was young and, inspired by Vital Ground’s mission, is eager to protect grizzly bear habitat and everything that comes with it. She savors the opportunity to build rapport and create connections with Vital Ground’s landowners and partners, bringing with her three years of conservation project coordination experience from the Bitter Root Land Trust in Montana as well as seven years of land acquisition experience, 13 years as a yoga instructor and a few years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria.
If she’s not in the office or out in the field, you can find Natalie walking her dog, getting dirty in her garden, enjoying a yoga practice, cooking up a meal, baking a tasty treat or heading out on an adventure with her husband from their home in Florence, Mont.