I moved to Northwest Tucson in 1980 as a pre-teen and my earliest memories of the sky islands were of hiking and riding my horses in the desert along Pusch Ridge in the Catalinas, including sightings of the elusive bighorn herd resident there back then. Later, camping and backpacking trips to many of the sky island mountain ranges throughout my life have only increased my love for this unique and beautiful region. I am honored to serve on the board of directors for the Sky Island Alliance. I graduated from Canyon del Oro High School in Tucson and received my undergraduate degree in German from the University of Arizona. I then received my Juris Doctor degree, with a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law, from Northwestern College of Law of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. After law school, I returned to Tucson to work for Defenders of Wildlife and, later, for the Sky Island Alliance. I then spent more than ten years on the staff of members of Congress, first as a senior legislative assistant for Congressman Raúl Grijalva in Washington, D.C., and most recently for Congresswoman Lois Capps of California. While working for federal legislators, my favorite projects have included the successful return of thousands of acres of traditional lands to the Colorado River Indian Tribes, the passage of an act to permanently establish the National Landscape Conservation System, and the development of legislation to protect the Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness and areas within the Los Padres National Forest on the Central Coast of California. I currently live in an orange orchard in Ojai, California with my husband Brian Segee and our menagerie of rescued, semi-domesticated mammals.