Kelsey began with WRFI as a student on the Colorado Plateau back in 2007, only wishing she had discovered it sooner. Growing up in the high desert of central Oregon, she developed an affinity for wild places at an early age and moved east to the Rockies to explore more of them. After her WRFI instructors went on and on about Missoula, she decided to land there. Her work in the outdoors has taken her from trail work to field education, ski patrolling, search and rescue, ecological restoration, botany, water quality sampling, bird surveys and more. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at University of Oregon, where she pursued studies in ecology, anthropology and photography. After quite some time working in the field she returned to graduate school at University of Montana, where she focused her work on the ecological and ethical implications of restoration in wilderness areas. She is thrilled to be roaming the wilds with WRFI as an instructor, where she has taught on the Colorado Plateau: Desert Canyons and Cultures and Summer Semester courses. While she misses the mountains of Montana terribly, she currently calls the Tetons home which she has decided aren’t too bad either.