MESM 2021
Bio
AJ Zekanoski graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry and Natural Resource Management. During his undergraduate career AJ worked on redwood timber harvest plans in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Witnessing the effects of both the Lockheed wildfire and historical over-logging while doing so gave him an appreciation of the fragility of our forest ecosystems. Upon graduating, AJ worked in the Wasatch and Uintah mountain ranges as a wilderness therapy guide for adolescents on the autism spectrum. While backpacking in those mountains he saw the tangible mental health benefits that access to healthy forests and wilderness areas can have on all people. AJ was instilled with a responsibility to contribute to the conservation of forests and all wilderness areas to ensure their continued availability. At the Bren school he hopes to research wildfire mitigation strategies and healthy land management.