Carolyn Napper Joins MSTA Board of Directors

The Mount Shasta Trail Association is pleased to announce that Carolyn Napper has joined its Board of Directors.

Carolyn grew up in Connecticut and Pennsylvania and graduated from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT with a degree in Marketing and a minor in Economics. Her cross-country running coach encouraged her to join the U.S. Peace Corps and off she went to the Philippines for 3 years where work involved helping a large farmer’s cooperative. Upon returning to California, she pursued a Master’s Degree in Agriculture specializing in Soil Science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Carolyn returned to the Philippines to instruct incoming Peace Corps volunteers. The last group that Carolyn trained as new Peace Corps Volunteers included a couple who had just retired from the Forest Service in Oregon, and they encouraged Carolyn to pursue a job with the Forest Service.

Carolyn started at the Stanislaus National Forest in 1989 as a soil scientist and spent 8 years working and living in Murphys, California doing soils, range, and hydrology. The range management involved lots of long hikes into the wilderness to evaluate range conditions and use.  Carolyn met her husband Greg, a civil engineer who also worked for the USFS. Carolyn and Greg moved to Chester, CA and raised two boys before moving to the USFS San Dimas Technology and Development Center in Southern California. Carolyn was able to travel to visit other National Forests from Alaska to Florida and helped on wildfire recovery in Greece, Australia, and Israel.

In 2011, Carolyn was selected as the District Ranger on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Mount Shasta, CA and has worked closely with the MSTA since then. Upon arriving in Mount Shasta, Gateway Phase I was being implemented and was well received by the community. Carolyn retired December 2023 and is delighted to be able to continue to help serve the community on the MSTA board.