Hi, I’m Valerie.
Welcome to Wild Earth Lab! My name is Valerie and I’m a scientist, artist, and avid outdoorswoman currently in Colorado, USA. My curiosity about the natural world started at a young age, exploring the prairies and woods of Wisconsin where I grew up. This curiosity blossomed into a love of backpacking and hiking as a teenager, which inspired me to embark on what I saw as the ultimate outdoor adventure – a thru-hike of the 2,180-mile Appalachian Trail – and to later pursue a bachelors degree in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology and a masters degree in Geosciences.
In the past few years, I have worked as a scientist in both the field and in the laboratory. I’ve measured the flow of headwater streams, counted new seedlings in beetle-kill forests, evaluated the health of insect communities in a national park, and studied soils following forest fires and chemical spills. As a scientist, I’ve had the opportunity to intimately understand our relationship as humans with nature: what we are doing right, what we are doing wrong, and how we can do better.
My goal in creating Wild Earth Lab is to create resources for you, your family, and your students to learn about the Earth and our relationship with it. By combining my passions for nature, science, and art, I hope to use this space to create unique and beautiful educational resources and engaging blog posts covering a range of topics related to science, sustainability, and the natural world. My aim with my writing and art is to create digital content that tells the story of our relationship with Earth and to provide useful learning resources rooted in science. I strive to make engaging, science-based education materials about topics related to environmental conservation, sustainability, and earth sciences available to kids, families, students, educators, and learners of all ages.
Perhaps this sounds like something you’re interested in too? I hope you will join me on this journey by subscribing, supporting Wild Earth Lab through your purchase at my learning resource shop, or following Wild Earth Lab using the links below!