Staff - The Outdoor School at Rancho Alegre

The Outdoor School Staff

Name: Justin “Fox Feet” Canty
Title: Education Director

Fox Feet grew up in the High Sierra town of Graeagle, California with a supportive community of family, friends, mule deer and Jeffery Pine trees. Thereafter, he trotted over to the University of California Santa Cruz and achieved a Bachelors Degree in Analytic Philosophy. Fox Feet's favorite time at school took place outside of the lecture halls with a small tracking class that focused on exploring and discovering the natural history of the redwood coast. Fox Feet has also been an educator at Grizzly Creek Ranch, Foothill Horizons Outdoor School, Foothill Horizons Summer Camp in the Sierras. Fox Feet is proud to work with and oversee a talented and enthusiastic staff of environmental educators. In his free time he enjoys birding by ear and the art of breakdancing.
Email the Education Director

Name: Blue Jay
Title: Program Coordinator

Blue Jay was reared in southern California but spent many years in Northern California. His education at Humboldt State and in the redwoods surrounding Arcata led him to become a naturalist. Blue Jay loves learning about the Chumash Indians. His other passions is birds – hence his name. Blue Jay can be often found standing still listening to the birds talking in the trees.

Naturalists

Rain grew up in one of the upstate New York counties where cows outnumber people 3-1. He worked as a naturalist in seven different states and earned a Masters in Environmental Education from Prescott College before signing on at The Outdoor School in 2003. Favorite activities at the Outdoor School include rock hopping and teaching the science of hot air balloons. On his off-hours, Rain indulges in the fine art of tree climbing and plays flute music on the Santa Barbara County open mic circuit.

Sage grew up in the Great Central Valley town of Modesto. Her love for nature grew from playing in her parents’ backyard garden, riding her bike along the creek and weekend trips to the mountains and coast. After earning her B.A. from the Friends’ World Program while studying in six different countries, she began her career in Outdoor Education as an Intern at ODS in 2006. Since then she has also taught at Point Reyes Summer Camp and Foothill Horizons Outdoor School. Through playful exploration, Sage hopes to inspire wonder, responsibility and an appreciation for nature in her students that will affect their communities.

Orion was born and raised in a small, well, not too small, horse head-sized nebula called Simi Valley. It was there that he spend his time doing what most young stars do in any suburban nebula: dream of life outside his home. Orion first came to The Outdoor School as a cabin leader in high school. He repeated this many times until he graduated and moved on to a new galaxy at UC Santa Barbara. While enrolled at school, Orion convinced the Outdoor School Director to get him a job cooking food for students and staff. During his senior year at UCSB, Orion got the opportunity to go down to the Southern Hemisphere in Australia to study the local marine ecology from his seat in the eastern sky. Upon his return he obtained a Bachelors Degree in Psychology with a minor in Education. Orion then began his stellar (get it? It’s a star joke) career as an intern in spring of 2010 and is now a full-time naturalist at Rancho Alegre.”

Red-Tail was born and raised in New York City. She has been adventuring since she was a small child-- whether it was through the city streets, the Catskills or nearby Appalachians Mountains. Ten years ago she made a giant cross continental adventure and moved to California. Throughout college Red-Tail taught children in the outdoors in biological field stations; she also facilitated the starting of gardens and garden curriculum in communities and schools throughout the Inland Empire.

Red-Tail previously taught science at an Outdoor Science School in the San Bernardino Mountains for four years, traveled throughout India and other places on the planet before flying over to The Outdoor School at Rancho Alegre. Red-Tail can't wait to explore and discover the hills of Santa Barbara with all of the students that come to the program.

Deer has spent most of her life wandering around the oak woodlands, suburbs, and chaparral of southern California, and is excited to be rediscovering the native ecosystems and cultures of her original home. After graduating from UC Irvine with a B.A. in Drama, she migrated all over the United States, as well as Europe and Central and South America. Recently, Deer lived in the Galápagos Islands and in El Salvador for over two years while working with children and youth in environmental and popular education.

In 2010 Deer returned to North America and worked as a Naturalist at Emandal-A Farm on a River in Northern California and Crow´s Neck Environmental Education Center in Mississippi. What she enjoys most about education outdoors is being open to the constant learning opportunities all around us, accepting the lessons that nature has to offer us at every moment (and playing)!

Squid was born and raised in San Luis Obispo, California. There he enjoyed being a Boy Scout, Park Ranger and avid science fiction reader. He earned a Bachelors Degree in Anthropology and Environmental Studies from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. During his studies Squid got to spend an awesome semester studying grey whales and sea turtles in Baja, California.
Squid worked for 6 years as a Naturalist at the Kern Environmental Education Program (KEEP) before coming to The Outdoor School. Two of his favorite sciences are herpetology (study of reptiles & amphibians) and Marine Biology.

Osprey has spent most of her life amongst the west coast range of the Americas. She grew up exploring wetlands, beaches and coastal mountains of Marin County. Moving the farthest inland she’s ever lived, she attended Whitman College, graduating with a Bachelors of Arts degree in English. Osprey suggests that this study is entirely relevant to the world of outdoor education, and she’s been telling stories and forging ties ever since. She entered the world of education working as a Counselor and Naturalist at Point Reyes Summer Camp; continued by teaching English to indigenous students in Guatemala; and cavorting among redwoods as a Naturalist Intern at San Mateo Outdoor Education.

Now Osprey is growing to love the oak woodlands and chaparral of Rancho Alegre. So long as there’s an ocean for receiving her dives, she’s happy.

Otter, a smiling and jovial creature—grew up near Lake Michigan; studied Kinesiology on the Mississippi River in Minnesota; taught environmental education; and learned how to conduct trail work close to the twelve miles of the New Hampshire coast.

Otter then headed west to work as the Head Naturalist at the Emmandel Farm on a River. Just before working at The Outdoor School, Otter restored habitat for tasty Coho Salmon along Redwood Creek in Marin County. She enjoys using plants and exploring her new watershed.

Naturalist Intern—Peregrine was born and raised in Santa Barbara County, California. She has always had a deep interest in the outdoors and since she was very young would identify birds and reptiles, play outside, hike, fish and enjoy nature with her family. After transferring to UC Davis from Allan Hancock College with a degree in Biology, she studied Ornithology with an emphasis on waterfowl (Peregrine Falcon’s favorite food ;) ). After Peregrine finished her studies at UC Davis, her love of all the things of nature brought her to The Outdoor School where she now spends her time sharing knowledge with bright-eyed students.

Winter Naturalist Intern – Toad was raised in the suburban jungle of San Jose, California. As a child he spent most of his time outside looking for bugs under rocks and mastering the fine art of catching fence lizards.

Toad moved south and received a Bachelors of Science Degree in Zoology from the University of California Santa Barbara. He spent the next few years catching critters all over the southwest—from bugs to salmon.

Toad eventually got tired of moving around so much, so he decided to settle down for a bit and share some of his knowledge with the students that attend The Outdoor School.

Spring Naturalist Intern – Mountain Goat - It goes without saying that mountain goats love the mountains. A little known mountain goat factoid, is that they also enjoy journeying down to the coast!

Prior to relocating to Santa Barbara, Mountain Goat lived at the sea level, coastal city of Charleston, South Carolina, where he earned his degree in Anthropology from the College of Charleston. Mountain Goat loved searching for surf along South Carolina's beautiful beaches, but lacked the physical adaptations to survive for long in such a hot, humid climate. Soon he realized his survival depended upon venturing to a part of the globe with a tectonic boundary capable of forming both a coastline and mountains.

Mountain Goat discovered such a landscape in Santa Barbara, where he landed a job leading kayak and hiking tours of Channel Islands National Park. He loved every second of it, but would often catch himself longingly gazing upon Santa Barbara's beautiful coastal mountains from his kayak. He yearned to share his love for the mountains and all their plant and animal inhabitants with others, and fortunately found an opportunity to do so at The Outdoor School.

Mountain Goat still makes weekly pilgrimages to the ocean but is thrilled to be living and teaching in his natural, higher elevation habitat at Rancho Alegre.

Administrative Staff:

Ron Walsh – WOLF
Title: Managing/Executive Director

Wolf has over 35 years experience in working with youth. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Recreation and Sociology. As part of his 35 years experience he has managed camps and outdoor programs for over 25 years and has extensive experience in all areas of youth programs. As the managing director Wolf oversees all aspects of the operation of the Outdoor School and Rancho Alegre with particular focus on facilities, maintenance, food service, administration, accounting, fund-raising, and long-range planning for the Outdoor School.

Lily
Title: Administrative Assistant

Support Staff:

Lizard Title: Kitchen Director	Scorpion Title: Food Specialist
Scatter Title: Assistant Ranger	Oak Title: Head Ranger