Welcome to our January Landmark Crew!

Jan 20, 2015 | apr, Landmark

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Caroline Hedin has an addiction to prairie. Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, she earned a degree in Ecology and Geography from Quest University in Squamish, BC. After school, she wrung out her rain gear and returned to the prairies to work for Parks Canada. 

For three years, Caroline has led the education team at Elk Island National Park, where she teaches visitors about bison conservation and the loss of the Great Plains. Along the way, she has fallen head-over-heels for the wide open skies, elk bugling over the hills, and the sense of solitude imbued in the prairie landscape. 

Elk Island N.P. has sent bison to APR, helping build its wild herd, and it is that connection which brought Caroline to the Reserve. She looks forward to seeing her bison friends in their new home and can’t wait to further contribute to prairie conservation.

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Originally from Minneapolis, Hannah Larson discovered her love of wild places as a teenager on canoeing trips in northern Minnesota and Canada. A graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine, she holds degrees in both Environmental Studies and History. 

Since then, Hannah has led wilderness trips in Minnesota, built hiking trails in Maine and New York, collected stream data across the western United States, and worked for two environmental nonprofit organizations in Washington, D.C. 

Hannah plans to return to graduate school in 2015 to study applied ecology, and she looks forward to gaining more field research experience on the American Prairie Reserve. Having heard so much about the prairie, she can’t wait to spend a winter under the open Montana sky. 

A few members of the December Landmark crew are staying on in January, and are joined by three new teammates Caroline, Hannah and Amber. Get to know the new folks here:
Learn more Landmark and other Adventure Scientists projects on our website, the Field Notes blog, and by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+.

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Growing up in California and Western Massachusetts, Amber Kapchinske developed a love for adventures, animals and the outdoors. While at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, she worked as a lab technician analyzing scat and hair for a project focused on the trophic relationships of carnivores in Newfoundland.  

After graduating with a degree in Wildlife Biology, Amber spent a year in Australia’s Victorian Grasslands caring for captive quolls and trapping wallabies. In 2014, she was part of a projectSaskatchewan trapping and tagging black-tailed prairie dogs in Grasslands National Park, Canada.  

Amber enjoyed the Saskatchewan prairie so much, she is returning for another season in March. In the meantime, her newfound appreciation for prairie life brought her to APR. She is excited to explore the Montana prairie with ASC!