Get to Know Katie Teschler, Our Volunteer Trail Work Lead!
Q: Name? Nickname? All of them.
A: Kathleen Nicole Chelling Teschler. Katie. KTesch or Tesch or KT
Q: Can’t leave out your trusty steed here. Who is she? Nicknames? All of them.
A: Butterscotch is my medical alert service dog who is trained to alert me when my blood sugar level is dropping or low (I have type one diabetes) - she’s trained to save my life! I mostly call her Butts, how could you not? I also call her Butterbutts a lot. Other people call her Butters, Buttercup (thinking it’s her actual name), Butterbooty, Buttersquatch. I like hearing new nicknames–share yours with me!
Q: How long have you been with SCMTS and what’s your role?
A: May 24th, 2021 so about 9 months. My formal title is Trails Stewardship Coordinator. My role is to have a pulse on all of the maintenance needs for the trails in the Santa Cruz Mountains and create work plans for those needs. I then coordinate volunteers to do the maintenance at various programs throughout the year and communicate with our land agency partners as well. If you join us out in the field, you’ll likely meet me!
Q: How long have you been working in trail stewardship? Mind giving us a brief recap?
A: A little over 10 years. I started my first official position in 2011 as an intern with the National Park Service at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). After my internship, I had a couple of environmental education jobs for about a year and a half, and then came back to the GGNRA to join the Trail Crew as a National Park Service (NPS) staff member on one of their construction crews. After about 2 years, I then transitioned to working more with the public again as the Trail Stewardship Manager for four years; I did similar work as I do here, and led volunteers in the field to maintain trails in the GGNRA. Now I’m at SCMTS!
Q: Why trail stewardship?
A: I like to educate people on how trails are built and why. It’s pretty amazing how much work goes into trail construction and maintenance, and it’s really easy to take it for granted.
Trails are how people access the outdoors, which brings serenity, joy, relaxation, and stress relief to people. I feel lucky to get paid to work outside for over half my time!
Q: Anything you want to share that people might not know about you
A: I like to cook and try new meals in the kitchen. There isn’t too much consistency in the type of food I’m cooking because I like to try all different things. I have too many cookbooks on my shelf and am always trying to find something new to make. A couple of recent dishes I enjoyed making were Pozole, Pho, and a tomato tart with fresh tomatoes last summer (pastry puff made from scratch!)—that was a really cool one (try the recipe).
I also really like to garden. I have to fight the gophers/moles(?) to try to grow food but last year we did a lot of squash which was awesome. I also enjoy growing tomatoes. I love a good garden tomato.
Q: What’s your favorite way to get outside in Santa Cruz right now?
A: There are too many! I’ve been here (in SC) for about 2 years. I recently got on a surfboard for the first time in nearly 2 years, and it was so refreshing! I really love watersports: paddleboarding, kayaking, boogie boarding, and sometimes surfing. I need to get on my bike more. I love biking, specifically downhill. The list goes on!
Q: Describe yourself in emojis
A: 🙃🧀🐕🌤🌊🥑🌮
Q: Care to share what you're listening to right now?
A: Lucius - all albums, but I like Wildewoman best.
