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Island Conservation Corps Crew Members

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Cohort 6, 2025-2026

 

 

Trine’s (she/they) earliest memories are of watching the forest canopy float by overhead as her mother spent time on the trails near their home. From there, Trine was always captivated by biology and the mysteries of the natural world. After completing an undergraduate degree in biology at Pennsylvania State University, Trine joined the Peace Corps and worked teaching high school science and organizing sustainable agriculture projects to aid resource gaps in the forested regions of Guinea. Since then Trine has worked a variety of jobs in the biology field including: screening COVID-19 variants, rural stream monitoring for the BLM, and molecular and cellular research to discover proteins essential for HIV infection. Trine is passionate about combining a scientific and human-centered approach prioritizing local communities in the work they do with the San Juan Conservation District. Ultimately, Trine is just happy to be working with the San Juan Conservation District and to be in a position where they can watch the forest canopy float by overhead every day.

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Melanie grew up moving around the hills of Tennessee and first fell in love with how people connect with their environment through agriculture. Melanie pursued her interest in people’s intimate relationship with the natural world by working on farms in the Pacific Northwest, interning at an agroforestry center in Peru, getting a degree in Anthropology from Whitman College, and providing educational programs to migrant communities in Seattle. Now Melanie has followed her love of people and the environment through joining the Island Conservation Corps. Melanie is excited to help manage and restore the complex forests and help support the long gardened plants that make up the native meadows of the San Juan Islands.

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Lauren (she/her) adores being outside and is grateful to have the opportunity to spend most of her days outdoors interacting with the landscape, flora, and fauna of the San Juan Islands. She enjoys using a chainsaw and the problem solving involved with felling trees. After growing up and attending college in New York State, she lived in Seattle for many years prior to moving to San Juan Island for ICC. Outside of work you can find her reading in her hammock, looking at something through binoculars, or playing board games.

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​Julia feels most joyful when she’s barefoot in the woods or in a creek. A former teacher, Julia  fell in love with ecological restoration while working part time in a reforestation project in a riparian woodland outside of Philadelphia. Raised in the drought-brown and incendiary chaparral hills of southern California, Julia is passionate about bringing good fire back to landscapes and mitigating the risks of catastrophic wildfire. She sees uplifting Indigenous sovereignty and traditional ecological knowledge as a compass for her work, and holds a  deep  commitment to be a genuine ally to the more than human world and the type of ancestor future generations need. She believes children’s laughter is medicine for the Earth and that we are all called to be in a reciprocal relationship with landscape and one another. In addition to her work with the Islands Conservation Corps, Julia has also been a crew leader for the Youth Conservation Corps and has  supported conservation, education, and restoration projects across Turtle  Island in Mexico, Nicaragua, Pennsylvania, and Alaska. Julia is an avid reader (books, poetry, & tarot cards) and is the human of a cat named Tortellini.

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Erin (they/them) grew up on a different island in the Salish Sea, Bainbridge Island. Spending their childhood biking, camping, and beach combing all around western Washington, Erin developed a deep appreciation for the natural world. While spending a term in college at the Friday Harbor Labs, they fell in love with the San Juans. After finishing a degree in biology at Whitman College and working in wildlife research and stream restoration, Erin is incredibly excited to be back in the islands. Through ICC, they hope to deepen their ecological knowledge and learn about responsible land management. Long term, they would love to be able to plan and implement restoration projects that incorporate research and indigenous knowledge. In their free time, they love to read, craft, and spend time outdoors.

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Charlotte has spent most of her life surrounded by water. Growing up on Kent Island in the Chesapeake Bay, Charlotte’s childhood was enriched by the exploration of the Eastern Shore’s woodlands and wetlands. These every-day interactions fueled her excitement to understand and care for them. As an Environmental Science student at Dickinson college, Charlotte was heavily influenced by authors such as Robin Wall Kimmerer, who instilled within her a desire to use science as a tool to appreciate the beauty and complexity of the world around her: from the tiniest invertebrates to the largest watersheds. Through field-based learning and research, along with her work with the Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring and the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks, Charlotte became engrossed in the flora and fauna of the Mid-Atlantic and exploring the multitude of ways we have always and continue to develop relationships with them. Trading out her hiking boots for a wetsuit, Charlotte was fortunate enough to spend a semester abroad at the Center for Marine Resource Studies in the Turks and Caicos Islands learning about the culture, history, and ecology of the archipelago. Charlotte now finds herself once again surrounded by water, this time a bit cooler than that of the Chesapeake Bay or Western Atlantic. She comes to the San Juan islands excited to explore this beautiful  place, develop new relationships, and learn from those who call these islands home. 

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Originally raised in Long Island, NY, Antonio brought his avid interests and inquiries in philosophy, environmental science, and terrestrial ecology with him along a winding trail leading to Friday Harbor, Washington. As a sprout, Antonio first connected with environmental science research during a grassland habitat management project, successfully re-establishing a long lost breeding ground for the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly. Soon after, these interests meandered and found home in Atlanta, GA, during his time as an undergraduate at Emory University. Studying urban forestry, resilience theory, consciousness theories, and classical music performance catalyzed a deepening of meaning for time spent interacting with environments, trees, people and culture. Upon graduating, Antonio spent years largely working in terrestrial ecology and environmental education fields in Alaska, California, Georgia, and Montana. From January 2023 - December 2024, Antonio completed a Masters of Professional Studies degree in Environmental Studies at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, completing a thesis concerning issues of environmental stewardship and empowerment theory, sense of place research, environmental thought, and systems theory. During this time, Antonio worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and created a deliverable helping establish the SUNY ESF Ph.D. program in Environmental Studies. In addition to these interests, Antonio spends his time climbing, mountain biking, playing and recording music, watching movies, and creating art. Think ridiculously, and vigorously love reality!

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Andi comes to the San Juan Islands from Oregon’s beautiful Willamette Valley. They were raised at the valley’s south end, in Eugene, and have been living at its north end, in Portland, for the last five years. Andi’s passion for the living world was developed in childhood, thanks to their parents, their friends, their generous community, and their non-human teachers. Andi brings excitement, commitment, conviction, anger, and grief with them into the world of ecological stewardship. Andi has witnessed the wanton destruction and simplification of the living world since their youth, and they are unwavering in their dedication to building a more resilient and adaptive future where some loss might be prevented and some joy might be preserved. Andi is actively asking, “How might this future be achieved?” “what would this future look like?” and “How can they be a proactive part of it?” So far, the answers that have come back to them sum up how ecological work begins and ends at the relationship level, and that systems that rely on domination (i.e. whiteness, colonization, capitalism, patriarchy, etc.) always lead to destructive relationships with the living world. Andi is working on building life-promoting relationships with other people and the rest of the living that surrounds us all. They aim to do this through careful observation, an eye to historic atrocities, question-asking, patience, and deliberate action. To find joy Andi plays with clay, reads books, rides their bike, and drinks tea with friends.  

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