Celebrating the Deer Flats National Wildlife Refuge

Meet the Heart-ist

Taelyn Baiza is a current student at the University of Utah with a special interest in nature and wildlife illustration. She was also the 2024-2025 Idaho Conservation League (ICL) Artist in Residence. Taelyn started creating drawings focusing on biodiversity and the importance of healthy ecosystems during the pandemic, and has since gone on to sell her art as cards, puzzles, and prints at regional stores and artisan fairs. She enjoys working with a variety of mediums, including colored pencil, pen and ink, woodburning, markers, and acrylic paint. Taelyn leverages her art to campaign for environmental conservation, sustainability, and biodiversity. Her work has been featured in the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) publication, by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Advocates for the West environmental law firm, and in the Honor: People and Salmon juried art exhibit. Her artwork can also be found in public spaces such as traffic boxes in Boise and Park City, in addition to a mural located at the Boise River Watershed. Taelyn continues working on new creative projects and hopes her nature artwork helps to remind us of the importance and beauty of our natural world.