Meet Our Staff
Garrett Dempsey
garrett.dempsey@sierraclub.org
Garrett Dempsey is the lead Sierra Club staff with Detroit Outdoors. His experiences growing up in San Francisco and organizing with communities in Oakland, California have shaped his passion for connecting urban youth with the outdoors and nature. Garrett is also the volunteer chair of the Sierra Club Detroit Inspiring Connections Outdoors program.
Jac Gannon
Wilderness First Responder Certified
Jac Kyle has worked at a variety of environmental organizations in both urban and rural settings, connecting people to each other and nature through hands-on scientific monitoring, habitat stewardship and outdoor recreation experiences. For the past seven years they have worked for the City of Detroit where they partnered with the Sierra Club to establish and run the Detroit Outdoors Urban Camping Collaborative so youth can have meaningful overnight experiences without having to leave their city.
Rachel Felder
Wilderness First Aid Certified
Rachel is a graduate of Wayne State University with her Bachelor’s in English, with a background in science. She was born and raised in Michigan about 15 minutes away from Detroit. The outdoors is somewhere that she has always found herself being drawn to, stemming from a love of animals. It was this love for animals that sparked her fascination about the environment, which has now evolved into a deep passion for all things nature. Currently working as a Naturalist for the Detroit Parks & Recreation Department and a member of the Detroit Outdoors collaborative, she hopes to ensure that everyone feels comfortable and safe while exploring nature. She believes that there are so many ways to exist in the outdoors and will continue to share this with other; hopeful that they too experience the magnitude of just how powerful nature can be.
Uriel Llanas Vargas
Wilderness First Responder & Lifeguard Certified
Born and raised in Southwest Detroit, Uriel graduated from Cass Tech and spent the following summer discovering the wonder and adventure that the outdoors had to offer. With a newfound appreciation and respect for the outdoors, he worked with Detroit Outdoors developing his outdoor leadership skills. Uriel now hopes to bring more youth of Detroit outside to and share the beauty and healing nature of the outdoors.
Isaac Piepszowski
Wilderness First Responder Certified
Isaac grew up in East English Village, Detroit, and graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School. From a young age, he was exposed to camping, fishing, and skiing as his parents and four siblings adventured around northern Michigan. Recently, he spent 5 years as a high school science teacher in South Dakota, and it was there he fell deeper in love with the outdoors. He is an avid rock climber and backpacker and has dabbled in some alpine climbing and mountaineering. Isaac's true passion is working as an educator - whether in the classroom or on the trail - "I'm always finding ways to share what I know and continue learning from the wealth of knowledge I am surrounded by!"
Eriu Martinez
Wilderness First Aid
Eriu Martinez, Coordinator for Wild Indigo Nature Explorations, a program of Audubon Great Lakes, has been living and working in Detroit for 18 years. She is an artist, arts-infused educator, experiential learning facilitator specializing in emergent curricula and place-based education. As a certified Forest School Teacher and Director, she is a guide for both Mapache Medicine and Big Bad Wolf Forest Schools in Detroit. She is also certified as a Michigan Master Naturalist and as an ANFT Forest Therapy Guide. In her spare time, Eriu enjoys wild swimming, kayaking, biking, and dancing, and can often be found cuddling her adorably naughty Malinois Shepherds.