About Conservation Control

I was raised in Dryden, MI where I spent most of my time in woods with the frogs, birds, and bugs. When I was 9, I walked home from school to find a tractor filling the small pond in front of my house. I witnessed the trees around me get cut down and replaced by development. Now I notice my woods are filled with invasive plants. Eventually, the creek that ran down my subdivision dried up. It’s important to me that our land does not lose its diversity. Lapeer County is filled with wetlands and forests teeming with life. My goal is to help turn the land of Mideast Michigan back to a more natural state. Even smaller households can make changes that create large improvements!
 

 I graduated from the University of Michigan-Flint with a degree in wildlife biology. I have taken classes that involve population genetics, forest ecology, pollution and restoration, and species identification. My experience started 4 years ago when I started working a landscaping job. Since then, I have removed invasive plants on multiple job sites, created habitats to bring in game species, studied vernal pools, quantified forests, collected data for fish and water quality in the Flint River, and much more.

 I grew up on the west side of Michigan where I would spend many summers camping with my family. As I grew older, I began to fish and hunt for large and small game. Long hours in the woods by myself gave me an appreciation for the world around me. Pursuing my wildlife biology degree has opened my eyes to how the woods around me are being taken over by invasive plants and mismanaged. Michigan is a beautiful state that I want to preserve so I have made it my goal to be an active part of restoring the wooded ecosystem that makes Michigan so great. 

 I am finishing my bachelor's degree in wildlife biology at the University of Michigan-Flint. My classes have taught me about fish ecosystems, and wildlife populations. forest dynamics and succession, and plant-animal interactions. I have experience dealing with aquatic and terrestrial herbicides, small mammal trapping, plant and animal identification, and conducting field research on endangered species.