Welcoming Dayl to Guild staff!

Written by Dayl Velasco and Rachel Bean

Dayl comes to the Guild with a love of the Southwestern wilderness and many seasons of environmental field work under her belt. Her background lies in ecological monitoring—conducting botanical and soil surveys—and technical trail maintenance projects—constructing rock and timber structures and cutting new tread. She also has experience working as a sawyer on forest thinning treatments, and in prescribed fire, wilderness medicine, native habitat restoration, and permaculture design. She studied the intersection of sustainable agriculture and earthen construction techniques and received her Directed Studies degree (B.A.) from Northland College.

Dayl was drawn to the Guild because she wants to engage in work that supports and enhances the health of our forests and the communities that surround them. After attending a Women in Wildfire training session with the U.S. Forest Service two years ago, Dayl knew she wanted to continue working to foster fire use to restore forest health.

In her work with the Guild, she is looking forward to engaging with the community and helping to expand the Fire Adapted New Mexico Learning Network. She is also excited to use her monitoring know-how while working on holistic monitoring for ecological resiliency as part of the Zuni Mountain Collaborative. When not at work, you might find Dayl drawing pen and ink critters, tending to her plants, playing her flute, or getting outside and being active. 

From Southwest Project Manager, Rachel Bean: Dayl brings a rich and varied background to the Guild with her experience in ecological monitoring, restoration, and fire. As a former member of our All Hands All Lands prescribed fire Burn Team, she is the perfect fit to help us grow New Mexico’s Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network and the Guild’s Southwest Region fire program, among other work. We are so excited to have Dayl become a part of Guild staff and invite you to join us in giving her a very warm welcome!