Heather Durham

As an ecologically trained naturalist I seek to observe, connect with, and learn as much as I can about the diverse and complex natural environments I’ve explored. As a student of ecopsychology and an introspective introvert, I’ve continually sought meaning and belonging within natural communities. Wild nature is where our bodies and minds evolved, in our very wiring as animals, and I’ve come to understand nature connection as my primary relationship, capable of holding and healing all others. 

In the tradition of many contemplative naturalists, my formal writing is rooted in journaling, and my journaling rooted in wandering, noticing, and wondering, in attempting to make sense. For many years and two essay collections my writings drew primarily from an extended wanderlust which led me around the United States, in and out of environmental jobs and ecological regions as a literal explorer, a tourist, a nomad.

This personal essay, “Steward,” examines my new relationship as landowner, with all the multifaceted gifts and responsibilities that come with an intentional, informed, sensory, and psychological immersion in a living landscape. It is part of a third collection of essays, for the first time fully rooted as I have become, in the land of ravens and salmon, amidst the towering cedars, waist-high ferns, and mossy understory of the Pacific Northwest.