Kathy Donnell, originally from Denver, Colorado, moved to Utah after college and has worked for
Utah State Parks since 1995. Kathy has had a passion for the outdoors all her life. As a little girl tromping through the snow in a full body snow suit all day long, she later participated in
Outward Bound (OB) courses in Colorado. As a teenager, she lead courses for OB in Florida and as a young adult, for the
Wilderness Education Association in Saranac Lake, NY. Kathy followed her passion from being outside to teaching outside for Utah State Parks as a Park Ranger/Naturalist. Currently Kathy works for
Wasatch Mountain State Park and oversees park education/interpretive programs and non-motorized trails.
Early in her career, Kathy volunteered for
Hawk Watch International handling non-releasable birds of prey and monitoring raptor nests. In 2008 she was able to house an injured Peregrine Falcon. In Oct of 2011 she adopted an injured female Great Horned owl and in Jan 2020 adopted a male Great Horned owl. She loves to share the birds with people while illustrating the importance of owls in the ecosystem, how owls contribute to a healthy planet and exploring ways people of all ages can protect the future health and prosperity of owl populations.