“I never really knew what I wanted to do in college,” the sophomore recalls. Inspiration eventually struck\u2014not in the classroom, but through the glow of her computer screen watching Geography King<\/em>, one of her favorite YouTube channels. “You could tell he really liked his subject,” she says of the channel’s creator, identified only as Kyle. \u201cHe made a video about careers you can do with a geography degree and I thought, \u2018This is it. This is what I want to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With NAU’s support through a full scholarship, Moomjian found her academic calling. She will graduate debt-free and well-positioned for graduate school opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was almost by fate that Moomjian came across the project that would come to define her undergraduate research experience. One day, she was snowed in with nothing to do. “I was on Handshake, searching because I was really bored,” she says. Handshake<\/a> led her to the Interns-to-Scholars<\/a> (I2S) program and a research assistantship with School of Forestry<\/a> graduate student Hayden Jorde.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Jorde\u2019s direction, Moomjian stationed herself at different trailheads in Sedona every weekend last semester. For eight hours a day, she tallied the number of people passing by, noting details including the size of groups and the pets accompanying hikers. This wasn’t just about numbers; it was about connecting with the pulse of Sedona’s beloved trails and understanding the pressures they face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “People were always curious about what I was doing,” Moomjian says, recounting the importance of her Trail Count in Progress<\/em> sign. She found herself educating hikers about the university’s role in assessing trail use\u2014information critical for obtaining federal funding and resources for land management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The study\u2019s findings are striking: an estimated 2.2 million trail users annually, up from 1.7 million in the last study conducted in 2015. The numbers tell a story of a landscape under immense stress. More people, Moomjian explains, means more soil erosion, vegetation damage, wildlife displacement, and increased fire risks. Additional funding would allow investment in preventative measures to limit these impacts moving forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moomjian is translating that story into an academic paper on track for publication under the guidance of Assistant Professor Catrin Edgeley<\/a> from the School of Forestry. “She and I work super closely together and I have literally not enough time to say how much I love working with her,” Moomjian says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Student](\"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/179\/2024\/01\/6984_helena_moomjian_20231201.jpg\")
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