Emily Walker
Naturalist and Education Manager

Emily grew up in Atlanta and took classes at Georgia Southern College in Statesboro, GA, before her love of the outdoors and wild animals drew her to the Chattahoochee Nature Center, an Environmental Education and Wildlife Rehabilitation facility in Roswell, GA in 1999.

When she first arrived at the Center, Emily worked in the gift shop and served as a docent, sharing information on the resident animals with Center visitors. Later, as a wildlife rehabilitation technician, she worked with raptors, reptiles and amphibians in the wildlife clinic. She also trained the docents, volunteers and staff on how to work with injured, non-releasable birds of prey so they could handle the birds for demonstrations and flight. Emily also worked with the endangered species breeding program to help reintroduce the endangered bog turtle.

She especially enjoyed sharing her enthusiasm and understanding of the wild animals by conducting programs, not only for individual guests of the Center and the school and scout groups who visited, but also by taking her knowledge on the road and presenting Outreach programs in area schools. Emily also trained other staff to do the same.

When Emily’s younger sister, Sara, visited Chimney Rock, she fell in love with the Park and couldn’t wait for Emily to see it too. Emily was equally enthralled with the Park and the North Carolina mountains and made plans to move to Western North Carolina in the summer of 2005 to join the Park team as Education Specialist. Her role has since expanded to include work as a Park Naturalist and overseeing a staff of naturalists and presenters as Education Manager.

At the Park, Emily works to expand the educational offerings for all types of groups by extending the brand awareness of the Park’s animal ambassador, Grady the Groundhog. Interpretive exhibits, interactive programs and hands-on activities specifically for children are continually being developed for Grady’s Animal Discovery Den. Emily started and has expanded the Park's collection of live animals for exhibit in the Discovery Den and to use in demonstrations and for Drop-in and Outreach programs.

Her goal is to create ever-changing exhibits and exciting new programs for folks of all ages, especially fun, educational adventures that will involve the entire family. By partnering with our many local expert organizations, Emily looks forward to offering young visitors and residents alike more insight into the vast geological, biological and natural treasures of the Park.

Emily lives in Hendersonville with her husband Joey and her dogs: husky, Dakota and beagle, Blaze.