WILD

Return of the Lynx

In my undergrad ecology class at SUNY at Buffalo we studied predator/prey cycles and a well-studied phenomena of ecology is the predator prey cycle of the Canada lynx and Snowshoe hare.  I worked in a struggling record store while in college that also had used books for sale.  I would flip through the dusty, dank books to find any gems and came across a wildlife book.  When I flipped through it and landed on this photo, my heart stopped and I was mesmerized by the intensity of survival of this moment: Read More

Earth Hour 2012

Just a few years ago in March 2008, I was in the back seat of a beat up sedan that my world-traveler friends had purchased upon their landing in New Zealand.  See, it was cheaper to buy a crappy little car for a couple hundred bucks to use for a month and sell it to the next backpackers before we left the country than it was to rent a car for a month. It was dark and warm outside and it was the tail-end of our trip around the south island.  I can’t remember exactly where we were but it ... Read More

Sleepwalking in the Wilderness, Part II

“Wilderness, it is here I came to know myself, but it was only just the beginning, because I found the more you know your true self, the more you know about those around you,” J. Shaw, participant on trail with the Wilderness Leadership School, South Africa. I chose to quest in Death Valley, over the holidays to process a life transition.  I had been going through a personal transformation over the last two years and felt I was finally coming down off of the arc of change.  I needed to sit in solitude in a wild and remote place to reflect ... Read More

Sleepwalking in the Wilderness

Orion’s belt is now in the center of my sky.  The moon is half, waxing to full.  The air is cold, crisp and there is a heavy stillness, deathly quiet.  It is January 1, 2012, I think.  Something made me stir from my dreamtime and I slowly lift my eyelids to gather where I am and I feel the comfort of the stars and orion.  I am in my -25 degree sleeping bag on a mound of metamorphic rocks, in the middle of a pink canyon in the back-country mountains of Death Valley, California or who-knows-where…utterly alone, fasting, praying, vision ... Read More

Thanks for a great night!

It was a very cold, snowy night but on Friday, December 2, 2011 over 70 guests came to Chautauqua Community House to celebrate and contribute to WILD’s vital conservation projects.  WILD’s Board of Directors, Trustees, and Associates traveled from as far as Antarctica and Switzerland to join in on the festivities and attend WILD’s annual Board meeting weekend. Read More