Ara grew up exploring the oceans, beaches and chaparral-filled hills with her family around Santa Barbara, California.  Her passion for the environment ignited at age thirteen when she started her own business picking up recycling in her neighborhood.  Ara went on to receive a degree in Resource Management & Forestry from UC Berkeley and an MS in Urban Forestry from the University of Washington’s College of Forest Resources.  For Ara, community involvement is the most important dimension of urban forestry.  She has worked to bridge the gap between people, science and nature in several projects including a summer-long youth forestry institute that brought high school students into natural areas to learn basic forestry principles and field inventory methods. Ara’s efforts are now being applied at the Cascade Land Conservancy, where she serves as the Green Cities Program Director.  When she’s not working, you can probably find Ara playing a mean defense on the soccer field, cruising down the bike lane, getting her hands dirty in the garden, sautéing onions, or, on a rainy day, curled up in bed with a good book. 

Ara can be reached at 206-905-6923 or arae@cascadeland.org