KATIE BEECHEM

Katie is a horticulturist and arborist with 12 years of experience working with plants and trees.  A summer spent with the Northwest Youth Corps in southern Oregon established a deep appreciation for nature and the outdoors.  This drove her to earn her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Goucher College and her Master’s degree in Forestry from Yale University. 
 
She has worked on crews to reforest over 1,000 acres of abandoned agricultural land in Baltimore County (through Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management) and plant over 3,000 street trees in New Haven, CT (with the Urban Resources Initiative).  Before starting on her role as a horticulturist with Jenna Bayer, she was a Climbing Arborist at Davey Tree’s Hamden CT outfit and a competitive athlete and CrossFit coach in Berkeley, California.   
 
Katie brings a passion for plants and people, and she loves helping people connect to their surroundings.  When she is not working, she is training CrossFit, exploring California parks, telling terrible puns, and spending time with her partner, family, and young niece and nephew.