feat: Introducing Laura blog post

src/content/blog/2024-12-20-meet-laura-ault---new-ugrc-director.mdx

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+---
+title: Meet Laura Ault - New UGRC Director
+author: Miriam Seely
+description: >-
+  UGRC has a new director, Laura Ault! Come learn a little bit about her and her
+  vision for UGRC.
+date: '2024-12-20T23:03:26.047Z'
+category: UGRC
+cover_image: /src/images/pillar-blog/default-social-card.png
+cover_image_alt: ugrc social card
+---
+
+We are excited to announce that we have a new director here at the Utah Geospatial Resource Center! Laura Ault joined UGRC earlier this fall and we are happy to have her on our team!
+
+### Tell us about your background.
+
+I grew up in Logan, Utah. I spent many days skiing at the Beav, but finally managed to graduate from USU with a bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture. I headed to grad school back east where I discovered I didn't want to be a traditional landscape architect, dropped out and headed back to Logan (and the Beav). I ended up with a master's degree in Bioregional Planning from the College of Natural Resources at USU. From there I took a job digitizing parcels at the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, moved over to the Public Lands Policy Office (PLPCO) after a few years to manage the RS 2477 process, then on to the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands (FFSL). At FFSL I had a number of cool jobs coordinating programs, Forest Legacy, Sovereign Lands, and Shared Stewardship. After 11 years I became the deputy director at PLPCO for a couple of years before getting this awesome job at UGRC.
+
+### What got you interested in GIS?
+
+I took a GIS class during my undergraduate work and really enjoyed it. I also had great professors at USU who were geospatial believers. What really did it for me was during my short stint in graduate school back east, Jack Dangermond lectured in a class I was in and showed off what ESRI was working on at the time. I was blown away and decided GIS was the way. I dropped out at the end of the semester and headed back to USU (and the Beav).
+
+### What's your favorite map and what does it display? 
+
+The [geologic map compiled by Lehi Hintze](https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_66427.htm) and published by the Utah Geological (and Mineral) Survey in 1980. I'm a sucker for the color scheme. 
+
+### What's your favorite trail in Utah?
+
+A tie between D-Street to the Ridge at the Beav and the A, B, and C sections of the Green River. 
+
+### Something about you that most people don't know?
+
+I was the Logan High School mascot, Grizzwald. Super intimidating 5'4” grizzly bear!
+
+### What is something about the future of UGRC that excites you?
+
+The ability we have to work with all state agencies and local governments to put data in the hands of decision makers. 

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+The purpose of this file is to create a temporary folder place holder since git does not preserve empty folders.
+
+1. Delete this file if there will be no blog post images since the folder has no purpose.
+2. Delete this file after adding images since git will preserve the folder and this file has no purpose.
+
+This file should not be merged into main.