Trail Conference Staff Update: Winter 2018

December 28, 2017
Staff
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference

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Trail Conference Staff Update: Winter 2018
Trail Conference headquarters in the winter. Photo by Jeremy Apgar.

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The Trail Conference welcomes Kendra, Nicole, Eric and Michael to our trail family and wishes Sabina and Tori best of luck on their next adventure.

Kendra Baumer, Volunteer Engagement Manager

Kendra joined the Trail Conference in November. Previously, she supported the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters & Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania’s work to protect the Delaware River Watershed by developing volunteer programs that moved online activists into offline action-takers. She worked in public relations after earning her undergraduate degree from Syracuse University, then went back to school for her Master of Public Administration concentrated in sustainability from CUNY Baruch College. She enjoys hiking, camping, backpacking, and nature photography.

Nicole Dion, Finance and Operations Associate

Nicole joined the Trail Conference in October as the Finance and Operations Associate. This year, she will receive her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Montclair State University. Since 2013, Nicole has been an active volunteer for several wildlife organizations, including Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ, where she works on a variety of projects that help protect New Jersey’s rare species. She was introduced to the Trail Conference in 2015 and volunteers for our invasive species programs.

Eric Stone, Invasives Program Educator and Volunteer Coordinator

Eric joined the Trail Conference in September after three years as a naturalist with Westchester County Parks. He graduated from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse in 2012 with a B.S. in natural history interpretation and minors in recreation resource management and environmental writing and rhetoric. While in school, he developed a passion for connecting people to the land through hands-on experiences. In his free time, he enjoys teaching ancestral living skills and campfire cooking.

Michael Young, Terrestrial Invasive Species Project Manager

Michael joined the Trail Conference in September as the Terrestrial Invasive Species Project Manager. In 2015, Michael received his B.S. in landscape architecture with a concentration in ecological design from Rutgers University. While at Rutgers, Mike interned with the Central Park Conservancy as a project manager and spent two seasons with Maplewood Township in New Jersey as a horticultural specialist. Earlier in life, he was the trail maintainer for Greenbrook Nature Sanctuary along the Palisades, where a desire to protect our native environment was fostered. More recently, he was a member of the 2016 Invasives Strike Force Crew.

Happy Trails to Sabina and Tori

Sabina Cardenas, Finance and Operations Assistant

Sabina joined the Trail Conference as Finance and Operations Assistant in 2015. Her love for the outdoors was solidified when she spent one summer training to complete the Devil’s Path in one day. She served as a member of our Conservation Corps’ Palisades Crew in 2015 and spent two seasons as a Summit Steward in the Catskills, a role she will continue to play for the Trail Conference. She is currently finishing her master’s degree in school counseling and hopes to combine this with her passion for the outdoors to become a wilderness therapist.

Tori Welch, Field Manager

Tori joined the Trail Conference in 2016 as a Conservation Corps member serving in Sterling Forest. She became field manager the following winter and worked on teaching sustainable trail building with the Corps. Tori graduated from the SUNY Fredonia in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science. She has returned to her hometown of Buffalo, N.Y.

We thank Sabina and Tori for their contributions and wish them the best of luck on their next adventure.