Emily Payne
Co-Founding Director ![]() Emily hails from the mouth of the Fraser River on Coast Salish land, and now calls the Yukon home. She is a certified teacher with 15 years experience working with young people of all ages. Aside from growing up by the salt and sea of coastal BC, her ancestral roots go back to the Celtic-Anglo isles and Scandanavia. Emily has a background working as an international youth leadership trip facilitator in rural Kenya and Ecuador, canoe and backpacking outtrip director, motivational tour speaker, native plant researcher, outdoor curriculum designer and classroom teacher.
She holds a BEd in Indigenous Perspectives from SFU, and a BA Biogeography (Environment & Sustainability) from UBC. She holds certificates in 80-hour Wilderness First Responder, Flatwater Canoe Instruction, Swift Water Rescue Level 2, Yoga Teacher Training and Permaculture Design. She has recently trained at The Tracker School in New Jersey in survival skills and tracking. Her big passion is working with plants, which she pursues through traditional willow basket-weaving, harvesting and blending wild herbal teas and making medicinal salves. After traveling to nearly every continent, she continues to be inspired by the immense beauty of her Yukon home. She co-founded Rivers to Ridges out of her belief that building curiosity for the natural world at a young age is an integral part of a healthy life. When she’s not outside teaching, you can find her singing along with her piano, blues dancing, growing backyard vegetables or trying to bake the perfect sourdough loaf. |
Erin Nicolardi
Co-Founding Director ![]() Erin was raised between the Niagara Escarpment and the shores of Lake Ontario on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee
Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Attiwonderonk, Mississauga, and Mississauga of the New Credit. She has always felt called to work outdoors with young people, and she is a certified teacher, with her BEd in Outdoor, Experiential Education. Rivers to Ridges was born out of a desire to create space for young people to feel curious about and connected to the land around them, and she uses her experiences to mentor young people and support those in the fields of education and child and youth work. Erin feels most alive when she's working in relationship with youth as they develop their sense of self in connection to place/land; being welcomed into children's explorations of the natural world; creating accessibility for children to take part in programs that connect them to the land; learning from local land stewards; exploring and supporting risky play; and celebrating bird language and song as a doorway to deeper awareness. |
Colin O'Neil
Camps Manager/Program Coordinator ![]() Colin grew up in New Westminster, British Columbia on Coast Salish territory. He spent his youth reluctantly hiking the Coast and Cascade Mountains with his parents, learning gradually to love them. One winter day, looking south to Hozomeen Mountain in the Washington Cascades, his love was realized and he has sought mountains and wild places ever since. Since 2014, Colin has been exploring the Yukon and meeting wonderful people in the process. In 2018 he finally decided to stay.
Colin has spent many summers working at Camp Goodtimes, a Canadian Cancer Society summer camp for children with a history of cancer. He has taught English to foreign exchange students, social science to university students, and currently works as an Educational Assistant at Elijah Smith Elementary School. Since moving to Whitehorse, he has had fantastic opportunities to run outdoor programming with Champagne and Aishihik First Nation in Haines Junction and with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation at Dechinta Centre for Learning and Research. Colin holds a Masters degree in human geography and never tires of helping people connect to the land around them. He also holds a certificate in Wilderness Advanced First Aid. When not working with kids, Colin can be found exploring the mountains and valleys of the Yukon. Colin has worked for worked in the summer of 2020 as Rivers to Ridges' Camp Manager, and is now joining the team as Program Coordinator on a part-time basis. |
An early fall multi-day backpacking trip in with a Yukon experiential high school program is where Emily found Erin in 2014. At the time, Erin was fresh to the territory and woefully unprepared for her first backcountry hiking trip. With the help of a shared tent, warm tea and lots of duct tape, Emily supported Erin on the adventure. A couple months later, Erin had the chance to repay the love by heading out with a friend to support Emily who was stuck in Watson Lake with a broken down vehicle. A surprise snowstorm closed the roads, and they were forced to stay the night at the Cozy Nest. Conversation eventually turned to life passions, and it turned out that Erin and Emily both had the same (not-so) secret dream of building a program that guides young people towards a meaningful connection with the land. Rooted in mutual support for one another and a deep love of mentoring children on the land, Rivers to Ridges was born! Now, in 2021, Rivers to Ridges celebrates over five years in operation. |