Preston graduated from California Polytechnic State University in June 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental management and protection, as well as a minor in geographic information systems. He has honed his GIS and environmental management skills through extensive coursework, such as watershed management, photogrammetry, wildfire soil mapping, life cycle analysis, and environmental impact assessments. In addition, he has applied these skills to various online programs, such as ArcGIS, Esri, and openLCA.
Preston has worked in a variety of leadership capacities and environmental fields. He recently served as a natural resources intern at the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park in Astoria, Oregon. In this role, he helped oversee a range of ecosystems and performed various environmental studies, such as eDNA testing, water quality sampling, tidal wetland vegetation monitoring, forest monitoring, and dragonfly mercury sampling.
Preston has also demonstrated his environmental management skills through landscape management and as a fire fuels crew member. In addition, he was able to exercise his abilities to recognize special-status species in the northern California region and perform proper safety measures to keep his peers and the local ecology safe.
In his spare time, Preston enjoys hiking, backpacking, and swimming.