Katie Watkins

“Since childhood, nature has been my happy place. I grew up going to Girl Scout camps every summer in the Santa Cruz mountains, and that forest was my home away from home. I've always been fascinated by plants and animals, how they interact, and how they adapt to different ecosystems.  I've had the opportunity to travel to incredible places including the Amazon rainforest, the Galapagos Islands, and the savannahs of Tanzania and Kenya, where I got to see flora and fauna vastly different from what we find around here - and yet, my heart still belongs to these mountains. You can usually find me looking through my hand lens at something tiny that most people would walk right by. I love discovering new things to marvel at, and sharing that spark of discovery with others. 

I went to college in Walla Walla, Washington, where I earned a B.A. in Biology and studied the mossy rose gall system. Since then, I've been sneaking fun nature facts into my students' horseback riding lessons. Being a horse trainer has taught me a lot about how to foster passion in children and how to give them the safe space to push themselves and grow in their skills and confidence. After nearly 10 years of teaching riding, I decided I really wanted to get out of the arena and back into exploring the natural world with my students.  I'm so excited to be doing that with the Riekes Nature Program! ”