Hello! My name is Anita McNally. Currently, I’m enjoying my final years at Oregon State University majoring in environmental science and minoring in German. I was born and raised in the East Bay in Concord, California.

Other than constantly playing competitive soccer, I found my passion for the environment in my family’s camping and fly-fishing trips as well as my active lifestyle as I grew up.

Although I’ve always been in awe of nature, especially on kayaking trips or while hiking, learning how to fly fish taught me the importance of diversity in an ecosystem.

There are many different types of organisms that trout eat, and every ecosystem is unique in its own way through the different types of hatches that occur or its habitat. Due to my passion in nature and fly fishing, I became more aware as well as intrigued of how humans can cause a negative effect these ecosystems and solutions to prevent that.

In my internship at OSU Extension, I’m working in Lincoln County’s Extension office with the Master Gardener and small farms programs, and Sea Grant Extension’s commercial fishing, crabbing, and clamming specialists. Through these programs I am connecting consumers with local and sustainable producers through publicity and social media. I will be working professionally with others to promote local and sustainable foods, which not only helps our local economy, but our environment as well. Although COVID brought some unforeseen changes to my internship, such as leading Shop the Dock and working on site, I will still get the most out of my internship at home, virtually.

Before I joined Extension, I didn’t know much about the program. When I was younger, I was in 4-H for two years in the rabbit project and veterinary science program. Other than 4-H I was unaware of how big OSU Extension was and how much more it is involved in the community beyond 4-H. I’m excited to learn more about OSU Extension and how it connects to its community in general as well as in an environmental way.