Hi, my name is Alex Harnick

I lived most of my life in New York but I've been in Washington since 2017 and the Pacific Northwest is my true home. The mountains, forests, and waters of the PNW speak to me like nowhere I have ever been before.

I take part in as many outdoor activities as this area has to offer - hiking, kayaking, snowshoeing, mountain biking, and snowboarding - but my preferred place is beneath the waves. I have been a certified scuba diver since 2001 and an instructor since 2010 - in that time I have travelled the world diving and teaching; I've worked with over 1,500 student divers and spent thousands of hours underwater. All that fueled my lifetime of passion for nature and ultimately drove me to study Environmental Science.

I'm also a huge map nerd - from the first time I cracked open The Hobbit I was hooked; my constant referencing of the maps in books I'm reading gets my wife's eyes rolling every time. Naturally, I was drawn to GIS as an extension of Environmental Science. I find the data analysis process incredibly interesting and the artistic outlet of detailed cartography is supremely satisfying.

Ultimately, I want to contribute to the conservation and restoration of marine environments and in a dream scenario I would combine scuba diving, environmental science, and GIS all into one role - but I'm not sure that exists!