Camille Mather

Camille Mather (née Alvis) grew up in rural Whatcom County rambling the woods, fields and gullies of her ‘backyard’ that often extended many county roads over. Her artist and naturalist father strongly shaped who she became, and he is a teaching resource for sketching, and plant and animal identification. After finishing Bellingham High School in 1996 where track and cross-country were her focus, she pursued degrees from Whatcom Community College (1998) and Western Washington University, graduating with a B.A. in Anthropology/Archaeology in 2000. The following years consisted of wildland firefighting with Baker River Hotshots (2001), living out of a truck rock climbing the western U.S., working as an archaeologist with the Lummi Nation (2002), moving to Durango, Colorado and working for San Juan National Forest as an archaeologist/fire archaeologist (2003), succeeding to lead archaeologist at Lummi Nation (2004), working full-time and by contract with various CRM firms (2005-2008). She married Josh in April 2005 (who she met in Geology class at WWU in 1999). Camille gave birth to their first child, Josiah, in April 2011 and their second son, Blaise, in August 2015. Josiah often supervises fieldwork and likely knows more about archaeology and geology than any other kid in town.

Camille received her M.A. from WWU in spring 2009, completing a thesis on 45SK46 located at Deception Pass, WA, analyzing the settlement type represented in the faunal and artifact remains excavated at a field school that she participated in as an undergraduate. She temporarily moved to Kettle Falls, WA for the summer of 2009 and worked for the National Park Service at Roosevelt Lake NRA. Camille now lives in Bend, Oregon and loves backpacking, camping, skiing, cooking, gardening, and studying the magnificent Northwest.