Chantelle Hutchens

Hi, My name is Chantelle Hutchens and I am a new Community Organizer at MWA! 

I am very excited to join the team here at Mountain Watershed Association. I was born and raised in Somerset County and have spent my college years exploring South Western Pennsylvania. I graduated from California University of Pennsylvania (CalU) in December of 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology and spent a year in Graduate school studying Secondary Education focused in Biology and Environmental Science before stepping away to realign my career goals. So I am very proud to begin serving my community through my work here as a Community Organizer at Mountain Watershed Association!

I have always had a passion for nature and enjoy being outdoors as much as possible! I grew up exploring my yard looking for bunnies in brush piles, taking walks in the woods and exploring the mountains, and raising animals of all kinds. I always had a love for the sciences and found myself at home when engaging in those classes in school. 

Growing up in small-town, rural PA, your day-to-day life is more connected to nature than some realize. The sunsets you see across a farm field, a field where you know the small town dairy farmer whose ancestors lived there for genera, the patches of woods that connect neighborhoods and hold white tail deer and wild turkey who cross at the most inconvenient of times, the trails and backroads you can take to see those neighbors, plus the creeks (streams to non-locals) and waterways you fish and swim in on a hot July day. Even just the simple way of life, like the porch sitting that happens on rainy nights and windy afternoons as you look out at the mountain and forest skylines, it reminds me why I love and chose to stay in the Laurel Highlands. It only makes sense to me that these are resources worth conserving and a way of living worth protecting.  

I enjoy kayaking (Somerset Lake has recently been restored so this may be my new favorite spot!), fishing with my boyfriend, hiking at a slow enough pace to identify the plants and animals that I encounter (much to my hiking partner’s anguish), dabbling in my garden growing wildflowers, herbs, and veggies, and caring for my chickens (self-proclaimed crazy chicken lady here, although I do have a cat too!) and two corn snakes!