Katie Rooks

Katie Rooks just returned to her home state of Minnesota, after spending the previous twenty years on the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska. Katie worked for the Forest Service for fifteen years, starting out as a firefighter and working her way up the ladder to project and program management. Katie earned many accolades during her early work with the Youth Conservation Corps, Native Alaska Tribal partnerships, and special Forest Service partnership projects such as Linfield College’s work-and-learn summer program and the El Capitan Cave tour program. After earning a Master’s of Science degree in natural resource management in 2015 (from Frostburg State University, MD), Katie decided to start her own outfitter-guide business, and successfully operated that business until 2023, when she began to make plans to move back to Minnesota to help support her parents, who still live in the Northfield area. During the last few years of Katie’s Alaskan residency, she also worked for an environmental advocacy nonprofit, researching and campaigning on logging and mining projects in the region, lobbying at the State level and working with national environmental organizations on Alaskan issues. Katie never lost her enthusiasm and passion for the Conservation Corps after six wonderful seasons in Alaska, and she immediately sought a position with CCMI after moving back to Minnesota.