Leigh Bernacchi

Raised in the Sierra Nevada foothills, Leigh Bernacchi has always been passionate about the mountains, and some of her best experiences in the wild and wonderful Sierra Nevada have taken place in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. As a national park service ranger, she shared these experiences with hundreds of visitors, and on her days off, she explored the parks from the bottom of snowmelt streams to the tops of waterfalls in the backcountry.

Leigh currently works for the University of California, Merced's Sierra Nevada Research Institute as the director of communications for UC Water, a research and outreach program on water resources management and decision-making. She loves to tell stories about the discovery of the natural world through the lenses of geology, ecology, and sociology, and is an avid birder, hiker, backpacker, and cross-country skier.