Volunteer Spotlight: Elize Van Zandt
Many of you know Elize from the Guided Nature Preserve Tours. She was largely responsible for creating the tour and the docent program.
She has been volunteering with the Conservancy since 2021. She is a retired national park interpretive ranger. Her final and favorite park is Joshua Tree National Park.
Elize made her home in the Colorado Desert for 30 years before coming to Woodland in 2022. She has an MA in Creative Writing/English, and is working on a memoir. She loves to get outdoors and hike and enjoy nature so much that she’s not getting much writing done. Reading also takes up a lot of her time, as well as embroidery. She listens to books when she embroiders; so she gets two for one.
Her volunteering began as a project for a Climate Stewards class, which was about creating a docent-led program for Cache Creek Conservancy. She has continued with the Tours because she loves hiking around the Nature Preserve and watching the changing seasons and various wildlife. She greatly enjoys sharing her knowledge with the public as a docent.
Besides helping to create the docent program for the preserve and being a docent for the tours, Elize also participates in the Creek Clean UP and the Christmas bird count.
Her favorite things to do include watching the beavers construct their dam. She also liked being there for the cultural burn in November, 2022.
“Finally seeing the otters was a great day.”
~Elize Van Zandt