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 Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society as the program director. She loves to tell stories about the discovery of the natural world through the lenses of geology, ecology, and sociology. Leigh is an avid birder, hiker, and backpacker.