Back 20 years or so, one of my beats was travel writing. I loved writing about places and the communities that gather there. I still write for our local visitors bureau occasionally, but most of my place-based writing is grounded in nature connection, conservation or climate change. Sometimes all three. Here are two recent essays.
Learn more about my work as an interpretive naturalist and climate communicator
Orange County Magic
Sometimes you go to a place and it feels special in a way you can't quite put your finger on. That was how it was for me the second I turned into the driveway at Bluestem Conservation Cemetery to lay a friend to rest. There was—and still is—something magical in the atmosphere there that I can't explain and don't feel the need to. Since that day, I've joined the Bluestem community as a volunteer naturalist and burial crew member. I recently wrote an essay about the place for one of our conservation partner's blogs.
Plant Camp
Refugium is a collaboration with my friend Geoffrey Neal. We've run in the same circles for a long time now and we launched this project as both an homage to someone we both admire very much and as a way to bring some of the energy from our in-person nature walks to the web. Our most recent installment takes a look back at the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference. Geoffrey is the event's director and I'm a three-time presenter. There's something special about Cullowhee. It's a lovely part of our state, of course, and nearby Sylva is a treat. But being surrounded by a slew of folks who care about the same things you do amplifies the impact of being in these hills that have witnessed so much. Here's our latest installment. I had more of a behind-the-scenes role on this one, development and copy editing, but sometimes I do take the wheel.