Ben grew up in Aiken, South Carolina spending his childhood exploring Hitchcock Woods which spawned his love of the outdoors.
Ben comes to Conserving Carolina with a degree in Forest Management, ISA arborist certification, and over a decade of experience in forestry and wildland firefighting. He has worked various jobs across the country such as a field technician with The University of Alaska: Fairbanks, wildland firefighter with the Oregon Department of Forestry and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, forestry technician with the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and the private timber industry, Transylvania County Ranger with the N.C. Forest Service, and Senior Forestry Specialist with Plank Road Forestry.
Ben’s varied experience across many regions of the Southeast and Pacific Northwest has given him an appreciation of the biodiversity of the southern Appalachian Mountains. He continues to build on his wildland firefighting experience as an on-call pickup firefighter with the Transylvania County office of the NC Forest Service. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, fishing, hunting, and backpacking.
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