https://www.austinaslanforflagstaff.com/my-values daily 0.75 2026-05-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1506970591565-Z850RJS7WSGGOBMB350A/IMG_0741.JPG My Values https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1506972860677-RYPWCWDEUU429CQK9K0R/GC+swichbacks.jpg My Values - ...Northern Arizona I was born and raised in Arizona. I grew up the son of a firefighter in Prescott, but my earliest memories include my father’s time as a fireman in the Four Corners region. My Prescott High School sweetheart wife and I first kissed behind an outhouse at the bottom of the Grand Canyon during a 1994 Thanksgiving camping trip. I received a Bachlor’s degree in Wildlife Biology at UofA. In Tucson, I also became a certified EMT. I returned to Prescott and worked as an ALS/BLS first responder for Life Line Ambulance. My family will have settled in Flagstaff for almost five years by the time of the election. After careful deliberation, our family chose to decline a higher-paying job opportunity in Ames, Iowa, in order to remain in Flagstaff—we simply couldn’t leave northern Arizona behind. In 2015, with the incredible support of my family, I thru-hiked the entire 800 miles of the Arizona National Scenic Trail, from Utah to Mexico. The Gore-Tex® “Experience More” online magazine has published four photo essays of my journey, which I encourage you to check out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507050367649-4Z5SECEFTF2ZUKZ6VHF5/IMG_2158.JPG My Values - ...Our Local Discourse Running for city government provides an opportunity to engage locally. In Flagstaff, no one is anonymous—we all shop for milk in the same stores. This creates an opportunity for civil discourse. People of good faith may disagree on our vision—and the means for achieving that vision—for Flagstaff’s future, but I firmly believe that our ability to debate as friends creates opportunities for better solutions. I boast of fiercely-guarded passions and many staunch views, but I take pride in the art of compromise. Often it leads to better results. I’m excited that Flagstaff city council seats are nonpartisan. My views on most issues respect complexity and do not stuff neatly into a box. I am a good listener, and you will have my ear no matter where you’re coming from politically. In an era where public dialogue seems to be suffering greatly at the national level, I see opportunity locally. It would be an honor and a privilege to bring an open, well-informed mind, and a genuine spirit of respect, to our city’s many important debates. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/e13d4413-8704-4695-88e8-7087f936cfa7/Opal+house.jpg My Values - ...Our Dark Sky Living in the nation’s proud first-designated “Dark Sky City,” we benefit immensely from enjoying a robust relationship with our planet’s view of the cosmos. I think this issue is deeply important, but so many people are acclimated to no longer having a clue what they’re missing and what’s at stake. And so many fellow Flagstaff residents take our nights for granted and complain when the city council won’t bring in an arena or more shopping malls or car dealerships. The AZ legislature is poised to renege on a promise to ban lighted billboards on our remote highways. The night sky isn’t just a pretty landscape where it’s available, though. Humanity’s very ability to collectively wonder about our place in the universe is compromised. This is a bigger deal than it might first seem. The stars are quickly going extinct from our awareness and our consciousness. We’re content to let wardens like Neil de Grasse Tyson be our gatekeepers to wonder. But each one of us across the globe should be able to be reminded on a nightly basis that we’re indeed small, and yet miraculous. We lose our night through choices, not necessity. We should all be more passionate about bringing it back to our neighborhoods. We really must protect what Dark we have left. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507322203350-K3L0HA4RI9S7BL902ESE/ISLANDS+Cover+Kirkus.jpg My Values - ...Arts and Imagination For the past several years I have been focused on my successful career as a young adult Science Fiction and Fantasy author. I’ve recently published two novels with Random House, and have two more in the pipeline with Harper Collins. THE ISLANDS AT THE END OF THE WORLD and THE GIRL AT THE CENTER OF THE WORLD are young adult eco-thrillers that take place on the Hawaiian Islands following a global, cataclysmic disaster. Themes of sustainability and interdependency undergird every page, but at their hearts, these are fast-paced, coming-of-age adventure stories. ISLANDS was chosen as one of the “Best Books of 2014” by Kirkus Reviews, and was named a top ten novel in the genre of "Climate Fiction" by The Guardian. I am a landscape photographer, and particularly enjoy the challenges and rewards of low light photography. I pledge to be a fierce advocate for the arts in Flagstaff, and will support STEAM educational goals in our schools. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/4c93a828-2134-4b64-a1f0-139c5747ad3f/Endangereds_Final.jpg My Values - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507322279844-ATN2B06TBK8NAHLKB1AB/The+Girl+at+the+Center+of+the+World.jpg My Values https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/4db46910-47e6-4188-8d16-c9f43109715c/Endangereds2+high+res.jpg My Values - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507051643088-8ZXR8ASC3TWY0RWLWBNP/IMG_0455_2.jpg My Values - ...Science! I earned a Masters in Tropical Conservation Biology from the University of Hawaii. My research on rare Hawaiian plants located on the high slopes of Mauna Loa Volcano earned me a pair of destroyed hiking boots, a tattered rain jacket, and a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. I have a deep, abiding respect for the Scientific Method. Peer reviewed research will inform my positions and policy decisions at every level. My wife has a doctorate in Ecology and teaches in the NAU school of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability. I believe that environmental stewardship will best succeed when respectfully coupled with consideration of human livelihoods and wellbeing. Indeed, scientific research strongly suggests that when it comes to the environment, people matter most. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507051888235-4OK4I4QTHWCGVDCT19ID/Sept+09+Immigration+Rally+267.jpg My Values - ...Public Service I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in a Honduran cloud forest ranching community for two years, where slash-and-burn agriculture was a traditional way of life. I worked alongside local farmers, hunters, and cattle ranchers to identify sustainable practices that both improved their bottom line and protected vulnerable forest stands, wildlife, soil richness, and water quality. I extended my Peace Corps service for a third year at the request of the program’s country director, where I served as regional scout for opening up a new Honduran communities to the Peace Corp program. Following the Peace Corps, I served as the manager of a US Congressional campaign out of Oregon’s 2nd district, one of the largest and most rural in the nation. I cut my teeth in the world of electoral politics, and this led me to become a faith-based community organizer in inner city Sacramento for almost eight years, where I advocated for struggling school communities, helped the city police department enact a community-supported gang violence prevention effort called “Cease Fire”, organized with Bishop Jaime Soto a diocesan-wide effort to win protections for local Dreamers and law-abiding immigrants whose families were being torn apart by cruel federal deportation policies, and I learned to write—and win—numerous types of community grants. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1508511639034-0ROUIQ80RAUFGWZ3BQTO/02.12.honduras.gualaco.treesforthefuture04.JPG My Values https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507054774473-LMMP7ZC2JUFK99AFYDUU/IMG_3340.JPG My Values https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507055327296-2KBA9KS72OUPQNY73S2S/DSCN1330.jpg My Values https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507658474704-C7T067FRVIKFNHSCC4B7/Meadowview+copy.jpg My Values https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507604946638-QSH0JLHGYDYWZ5M5HNE3/dsc_0149.jpg My Values https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507573589493-CLYEVN6OC0SB1U8XGWKD/DSC_0017.jpg My Values https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507573229779-IT2CL10KEECWZWYB27W7/DSC_0291.JPG My Values https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/0c53e394-709e-4b6f-bb8b-04793060cb70/VPPA+Coconino+Voices.jpg My Values (Link to article) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/2bcba112-efae-4797-acca-71173884abeb/NAH+article+1.jpg My Values - Make it stand out (Link to article) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/f2d3583f-5698-4014-90d4-9dce3772abc2/NAH+article+2.jpg My Values - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.austinaslanforflagstaff.com/our-impact daily 0.75 2026-06-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1507058505421-8XEMZWP7GBLJATBB3SUR/GC+river.jpg Media https://www.austinaslanforflagstaff.com/home-page daily 1.0 2026-05-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/161e30a9-168f-4509-8ae7-1a54bb8452d9/1112+Milford+Sound+008.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/5fc4c550-1c86-4fc3-a4e0-d6bcfbcb7dc8/DSC01296.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/c56b8da0-cc77-456d-a5bf-42543da97424/Screenshot+2026-05-09+at+1.17.35%E2%80%AFPM.png Home - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/6c1570cf-15c6-4a1a-bd60-f96f32a099ec/Screenshot+2026-05-09+at+1.10.45%E2%80%AFPM.png Home - Make it stand out Photo by Jake Bacon, Arizona Daily Sun https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/f3f6f045-a060-4615-b57c-530bbe6fb48a/1379650_0067.jpg Home - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/2a06adb0-922b-483b-896f-d5e72d63287f/IMG_4558.jpg Home - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/837d9beb-2964-4dcf-9e52-1f693094b197/32C155F7-A043-4B10-BF2A-F0200B488184.JPEG Home - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.austinaslanforflagstaff.com/videos-1 daily 0.75 2026-06-03 https://video.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/0a077af2-6ac6-4f34-9318-e218d5529f52/playlist.m3u8 https://video.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/0a077af2-6ac6-4f34-9318-e218d5529f52/thumbnail Videos Videos https://video.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1843dff9-c518-4be6-83f0-de150ee51883/playlist.m3u8 https://video.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/1843dff9-c518-4be6-83f0-de150ee51883/thumbnail Videos Videos https://video.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/68d44847-b54b-42bd-8853-4aec6e182727/playlist.m3u8 https://video.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59d28187cf81e05734652d7e/68d44847-b54b-42bd-8853-4aec6e182727/thumbnail Videos Videos