Anna Novoa

In 2015 Anna took a tracking class with Natural Awareness Tracking School where she was told by the lead instructor and founder Rob Speiden “You know, you can track and help people at the same time through SAR.” After learning this, she joined the nearest SAR team and the rest is history!

In her years of service, she has become a SAR Tracking Technician, and a VDEM Adjunct Instructor helping to teach the Search Team Leader course and the Search Team Member course.  Additionally, she currently serves as Treasurer for the Virginia Search and Rescue Council and Secretary for the Search and Rescue Tracking Institute and is a member of Black Diamond Search and Rescue.

When she is not doing SAR she enjoys hiking and foraging for wild edible and medicinal plants and observing the wildlife of VA to learn more about the wild around us as she is a Certified Master Herbalist with Trinity School of Natural Health and a Certified Master Naturalist with Virginia Tech.

“When I became a certified herbalist, it showed me just how little I know and how vast this topic and many other topics are! It is impossible to know everything but this highlights how important being a lifelong learner is and that is what I strive to be.”