Sharon Crowell

Sharon is one of our Bluebird Monitors on the trail at Algonkian Park.  She recently accepted a volunteer position on our newly formed Bluebird Program Leadership Team.  Her contributions in helping establish the team have been invaluable so we would like to take a moment to celebrate Sharon by highlighting one of her favorite places in nature – hiking in Death Valley.

While Death Valley may seem a long way from the forests and fields of Loudoun County, the area hosts a diversity of landscapes, wildlife, and plants just like we do.  This region also faces the same environmental challenges – invasive species, over-browsing by wildlife, air pollution and climate change.

Here are some of Sharon’s thoughts on Death Valley:

My favorite nature thing is hiking out in the western US.  I was absolutely blown away when I went on a one-week hiking trip to Death Valley – the landscape seemingly so stark and barren until you take a closer look.  The colors, the sand formations, and the teeny tiny signs of life that pop up here and there in the midst of the most uninhabitable place one can imagine are beyond inspiring.  For me, Death Valley represents the tenacity of nature and gives me hope that somehow we will emerge with beauty and grace from our current environmental crises.