Meet the Crew: September – December 2016

Kathryn Davison is a traveling researcher from Northern Virginia. She grew up running around in the woods in New Hampshire during the summer and hiking in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. As a multi-summer camp counselor, it is safe to say she enjoys many forms of outdoor recreation.
 
While completing a B.S. in Biology, she conducted population dynamic and animal behavioral studies in Tanzania, Australia and Pennsylvania. Most recently, she worked as a trails maintenance intern in Alaska with the U.S. Forest Service while spending her time off volunteering to gather data with their fish and wildlife divisions.
 
As an avid hiker with an insatiable thirst for knowledge about the natural world, she is excited to be a part of Landmark’s crew this fall. She has visited areas around Yellowstone in the past and is happy to be back on the Plains once more.

Mathilde Granet grew up in the Southwest of France where her love for exploring landscapes and outdoor activities started. In September 2015, she graduated in Geography-Spatial Planning with a specialization on disaster risk reduction from the University Jean Moulin, Lyon 3.
 
Recently Mathilde worked with Surfrider Foundation Europe, conducting water quality sampling, analysis and organizing meetings with local authorities to work on raising awareness on water quality issues such as bacteriological and chemical pollution in the oceans.
 
Landscapes and their evolutions, relationships between territories and human beings have always fascinated Mathilde. From the Ocean to the Great Plains, she is excited to discover a new land, fauna and flora. She’s looking forward to gaining data collection experience on the prairie and is very happy to be a part of such a monumental and exciting project.

Sandy Van Dijk grew up on a pig farm in central Alberta, Canada. She developed a passion for fishing, hiking and exploring in the wilderness of Yukon Territory. This led her to major in Wildlife and Fisheries at the University of Northern British Columbia. Her last job was performing angler surveys as well as fishing at a remote lake in northern Alberta for the Alberta Conservation Association.
 
Past work experience includes performing bird nest searches, grouse lek searches, nocturnal amphibian surveys and bird point counts throughout Alberta and northern British Columbia. Sandy’s hobbies include hiking and backpacking, which have allowed her to explore and thoroughly enjoy Utah, Yukon Territory and the Rockies in Alberta and British Columbia. She also spends her free time improving her fly fishing and birding skills.

Sandy can’t wait to dive into this incredible opportunity and discover the wonders of the prairie and its wildlife.

Saul Carrillo grew up in Austin, Texas where he started off studying ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Texas. He soon switched to Texas A&M to study wildlife and fisheries sciences. During his off time he has worked at Camp Manito-Wish YMCA, where he has led canoeing and backpacking trips of varying lengths. He has also enjoyed personal backpacking trips around the U.S., hiking through National Parks and just “roaming around.”
 
Saul has also spent time working at Mission: Wolf, which focuses on experiential education concerning the endangerment of wolves and their habitats. There, he took care of wolves, educated visitors, worked in the garden and helped build a more sustainable sanctuary. He also briefly volunteered with The Leatherback Trust, taking population and genetic samples of green, leatherback and ridley sea turtles in Costa Rica as well as protecting them from local poachers.