The Bristlecone Firesides
Family

Madison is a Utah native through and through. He loves dirty feet, hugging trees, and gardening. After spending a childhood obsessed with the bug in the window and discovering where to dig up dinosaurs, Madison formalized his earthy passions with a degree in Environmental Humanities from Brigham Young University. Currently, he works for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance as their Faith Community Organizer. With the sea turtle as his spirit animal, Madison enjoys taking life slowly and with purpose. In his downtime, Madison really digs being an uncle, spending time in the kitchen, hiking, camping, and of course, seeing as many movies as possible. As an aspiring Taoist Mormon Mystic, he will someday get around to meditating with seriousness.

Abigail Pinegar was born and raised mostly in Utah, with a few formative years spent in the Pacific Northwest. These different landscapes were instrumental in fostering a desire and passion to study and protect critical nature. Her love for the outdoors coerced her into completing a B.A. in Environmental Humanities at Brigham Young University. She currently works full-time for a natural foods company, while simultaneously pursuing an M.A. in Comparative Studies (with an environmental focus, of course!) at Brigham Young University. She hopes to eventually utilize her fervor for the arts and the earth to incite better environmental practices and greater appreciation for God's creations.

Madeleine is a senior at Columbia University studying history and creative writing. She’s a Southern California native with a deep love of deserts, mountains, and the ocean. When she’s not writing, she’s at the beach or trying to propagate her plants. Madeleine currently works for the Earth Institute at Columbia University and can be found hiking upstate to escape the city.

Jane Cox graduated with a B.S in mathematics from Brigham Young University, and is currently studying Asian Foreign Policy at Georgetown. She is incredibly grateful for the wonderful gift of nature, and can generally be found either in a library or a forest.

Evan Jones is a senior at UVU majoring in Religious Studies and Psychology and minoring in Philosophy. Originally from Northern Virginia, Evan has come to love the physical landscape of Utah and realizes the importance of preserving it. He enjoys bringing friends to new, bizarre natural spaces while teaching them the importance of cryptobiotic soil. He hopes to make several more trips to Escalante, his favorite area of protected land, before likely leaving the state for graduate studies in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.

Arianna "Ari" Rees grew up at the feet of the Wellsville and Wasatch mountain ranges, and her heart is firmly wrapped around Utah's parks. Ari is a freelance writer and editor living in Salt Lake City who regularly contributes work to the Utah Office of Tourism and got her start writing about faith for LDS Living and Mormon Buzzz. Spirituality and nature are tightly woven together in her life, and spending time in canyons is akin to an act of worship. When she isn't preoccupied with books, bad Twitter memes, or blog posts, she can be found climbing big rocks with trail dust under her toenails.

Carlee's childhood passion for all things nature blossomed when she discovered environmental humanities while at BYU. She especially enjoyed exploring Latter-day Saint ecotheology, so she wrote her Honors thesis about ecotheology in the Book of Mormon and nestled in happily to working for LDS Earth Stewardship. Joy abounds when she gets a close look at a bug, hears a unique birdsong, feels the texture of tree bark, smells petrichor through the window, or eats anything on a mountain trail. Her recent great discovery has been going carless and realizing the astounding capacity, freedom, and bliss of biking.

https://ldsearthstewardship.org/

Jared Meek is a conservation and evolutionary biologist who studies how changing landscapes influence the diversity of life on Earth. Jared is especially in love with plants, mountains, and plants in mountains! He received a BS in Biodiversity & Conservation from Brigham Young University, and an MA in Ecology, Evolution & Conservation Biology from Columbia University, where he is currently pursuing a PhD. While the majority of his time is spent botanizing, he is inspired by the ways in which science and faith interact to foster a sense of wonder about the natural world.

Gillian was born and raised in Salt Lake City. As her family's "nature girl," she loved exploring the red rock wilderness or fly fishing in the Wasatch mountains. Her most common refrain is "let's go outside," much to the amusement of her friends. Besides the great outdoors, she enjoys ice cream, reading, and gardening. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in Sustainability at Stanford University.

Abigail Banks is currently a freshman at BYU studying Environmental Science with a minor in Business. Born and raised in Murray, Abigail spent her childhood exploring the lands of Southern Utah every fall and spring break. Growing up, she wasn't super proud to be from Utah, but the longer she's here, Abigail realize how lucky she is to live in such a beautiful place. Through learning to love her home, Abigail realized how important it was for her to fight for the preservation of wild things.