Rachel Ford, MSc

Experience

Rachel was born and raised in Michigan, about 45 minutes west of Lake Michigan, in a family with roots in western Europe. She studied environmental science at the University of Michigan and environmental economics at Michigan State University and then travelled up a glacial fjord to southeast Alaska where she worked on community- based projects to protect urban salmon streams. After going up the Skagway River watershed and into the Yukon River watershed, she began her career in environmental and social impact assessment in Whitehorse, Yukon. In 2020, Rachel and her partner moved to Edmonton, on the North Saskatchewan River. While at Firelight Rachel has worked on cumulative effects assessments, rights impact assessments, and alternative means assessments to support Indigenous nations protect what is important to them. She loves talking about water, fish, and caribou and in her free time enjoys cycling, hiking, armchair adventuring, and some real-life adventuring too.