UCSS has gained another awesome new team member! Let’s take a minute to get to know Rachel Blumhardt from Rapid City, South Dakota, UCSS’ new Engagement Specialist.
You may see Rachel out in the field placing stewards, and the field is no stranger to her — she came to us from the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, where she worked as a Park Ranger doing everything from interpretation and outreach to compliance and clearing hazard trees with chainsaws. Prior to park rangering, she has worked seasonally in a number of places — including Washington State, Mesa Verde National Park, and as a snowshoe tour guide.
Mesa Verde, especially, was a favorite: “It’s so beautiful for so many reasons,” Rachel said of the park, which is famous for its many prehistoric cliff dwellings, “and it was really cool to get to connect people to that place.” Mesa Verde is also where she met her husband, Taylor, in 2021. Their relationship started based on their shared interests in exploring the outdoors: “he’s the one who taught me how to ski, and he’s the one that took me whitewater rafting for the first time,” Rachel said. They got married September 2024, and still enjoy doing many outdoor activities together — from skiing and rafting to hiking and backpacking. Rachel also writes and plays original music on acoustic guitar and spends time painting.
After a few years spent working as a Park Ranger, she says that it felt time to get back to something that was more in line with her long-term goals and passions. With her degree in anthropology with an archaeology emphasis from the University of Montana, as well as a minor in climate change studies, UCSS was a natural intersection of her interests:
“This kind of thing — like connecting people in the community to resources and figuring out ways to get the public involved and passionate about the natural and cultural resources of a place — that’s my passion,” she says. “This feels like… a good alignment of the things I care about and want to do, and I’m excited to meet all of [UCSS’ stewards] and get out in the field with them. I’m sure that they have a ton to teach me, and I can’t wait for that; I love learning.”
We look forward to working and learning with Rachel more, and for her to get to work with UCSS’ amazing community!