Cathy Walsh

It was in July 2016 when Cathy and her husband, Bob Rymer, moved to Asheville from Charleston, SC where she had worked as a clinical psychologist for the past 28 years. One month after arriving in Asheville she began her studies with the Blue Ridge Naturalist Certificate Program at the North Carolina Arboretum.  Having visited, camped, bird watched and weaved up in Western North Carolina for over 20 years while living in Virginia (graduate school at University of Virginia) and South Carolina she had learned about the Naturalist program from a fellow birder on a Carolina Bird Club walk years before. When she and Bob left Charleston and camped across North America with their dog in 2015-16, she knew that becoming a Blue Ridge Naturalist was her next step.

We are pleased to announce that periodically we will be featuring one of our members. We thought it was appropriate to feature our past BRNN President and one of the founding board members of our non-profit.

Ken Czarnomski

Ken Czarnomski is a seasoned architect, artist and educator. He has spent much of his life exploring the natural world with adventures in National Parks and Forests throughout all fifty states and foreign countries, creating artistic visions from these.  As he expanded his travels, he discovered illustrated maps in Ireland, which inspired his final project for his North Carolina Arboretum Blue Ridge Naturalist certification in 2013. He donated that Purchase Knob map to Haywood County Tourist Development Authority, where they continue to do ten thousand printings at a time. To date, he has reached over 100,000 people through various publications.