Mariah grew up between a corn field and a dairy farm in southern Wisconsin and spent a lot of her childhood outdoors. She studied Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of Minnesota, and quickly fell in love with tutoring chemistry, becoming a soil science Teaching Assistant, and working on a forest ecology research project. Her passion for science and natural history education led her to becoming a Naturalist Intern at Interstate State Park, a Naturalist Fellow at Dodge Nature Center, and a Naturalist at Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary in Minnesota. Her curiosity of other other landscapes and cultures lead her to becoming a Teacher-Naturalist on Cape Cod in Massachusetts where she taught local 4th and 5th graders. She is incredibly excited to keep learning and teaching about natural history, and serving park visitors far and wide with Project Conserve in Great Smoky Mountains National Park!