My name is Sam Howland. I am from Peoria, Illinois which is a few hours south of Chicago. I also grew up in Ohio and still have many family ties to the area. I was always an athlete growing up and never really let my interests stray far from sports. I played baseball in junior college in Peoria and then transferred to Illinois State University where I majored in Finance. After graduating I moved to Alabama for a few months where I worked some odd jobs and did a great deal of reading especially about philosophy and eventually decided I wanted a job working in the most wilderness area possible and joined the Montana Conservation Corps. I had never camped before and grew a passion for nature and conservation. After my term there was up I got a lot of pressure to try and find a job in the "real" world. I spent a year managing a restaurant delivery business in Alabama but in the end the West and the mountains were tugging on my heart too much so now here I am back in the West where I belong working for the Nevada Conservation Corps.
