Caitlin Houser grew up on Cougar Mountain in Washington and has spent many hours hiking and jogging in the Issaquah Alps. During her adolescence, she witnessed the rapid transition of small town Issaquah and nearby areas into sprawling suburbs, which opened her eyes to the plight of the regions wild places and planted the send for her environmental activism. Caitlin’s love affair with wilderness areas began when she first experienced them as a teenage participant in the Wilderness Volunteer Corps. She strongly believes in the need to expose youth to wilderness and environmental education and is prod to represent her generation in the movement to protect Washington’s wild places.