Laurie Webster grew up on the south shore of Long Island and developed a love for nature through time spent on the Great South Bay and Fire Island. After a cross-country camping trip opened her eyes to the beauty and wonder of the American Southwest, she spent her next decades living and working in the Four Corners states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.

In the 1980s, she conducted archaeological fieldwork for the Bureau of Land Management and the San Juan National Forest, then moved to Tucson to study anthropology and museum studies at the University of Arizona. In 2007 she returned to southwestern Colorado to make Mancos her home.

As an anthropologist and textile consultant, she has spent most of her career working with museum collections, and in 2011 established the Cedar Mesa Perishables Project to document early collections of archaeological textiles, baskets, and other perishable artifacts from southeastern Utah. Passionate about the natural and human history of the Four Corners region, she contributes her time to several boards and community organizations.

Serving as Secretary of the Montezuma Land Conservancy board allows her to support the critical workof this important organization while putting her beliefs about land conservation into action.