Toni grew up in rural Central Iowa, where summer days meant flipping over logs, watching butterflies, and tagging along to county conservation events. Encouraged by a strong science teacher and a love for hands-on learning, she earned a biology degree from Iowa State University. As a student, she joined an ecological research lab studying butterflies, conducting field surveys in the prairies of the Midwest and alpine meadows of Grand Teton National Park to measure climate change’s effect on plant and pollinator communities.

Fieldwork remained at the core of Toni’s career. She collected jaguar scat in Guatemala’s Peten lowlands, tracked wolves in Southeast Alaska, and worked on a long-term wildlife monitoring project on the Bison Range in Montana. Along the way, she earned a master’s in ecology from Utah State University, where she studied female social behavior in bighorn sheep.

Toni’s connection to the landscape extends beyond research. She’s hiked more than 7,000 miles on long-distance trails, including the Appalachian and Pacific Crest, with additional time on the Continental Divide, Oregon Coast, and Superior Hiking Trails. These journeys shaped her understanding of ecosystems from the ground up.

As a naturalist guide, she brings an ecological mindset to every itinerary. Based in Logan, Utah, Toni spends her free time birding, geocaching, tending houseplants and walking—field guide and hand lens rarely out of reach.