Staff and Elders

Pınar (they/them) is an indigenous futurist, mentor, consultant and ecophilosopher; co-founder of Queer Nature, an “organism” stewarding earth-based queer community through ancestral skills, interspecies solidarity and rites of passage. Enchanted by the liminal, Pınar is an neurodivergent enby with Huanca, Turkish and Chinese lineages.

As a QTIBIPOC outdoor catalyst, their inspiration is envisioning decolonially-informed queer ancestral-futurism through interspecies accountability and the remediation of human exceptionalism in the Chthulucene. Their relationship with queerness, hybridity, neurodivergence, indigeneity and belonging guided their work in developing Queer Ecopsychology with a somatic and depth approach through a decolonial lens. As a survival skills mentor, one of their core missions is to uplift and amplify the brilliant “survival skills” that BIPOC, LGBTQ2+ and other intersectional oppressed populations already have in their resilient bodies and stories of survivance. They are a member of Diversify Outdoors coalition. We have been friends and co-conspirators with Pinar for many years and are happy to have them as an occasional guest mentor.

Joy (she/her) is a lifelong Boston resident who loves to write, farm, and visit restaurants to explore new flavors and cultures. She is passionate about community, food, and sustainable development and has spent her career at the intersection of these values. After studying culinary management she dedicated her time to supporting regenerative systems development, food justice, and education through urban agriculture projects, The Food Project and ReVision Urban Farm. Joy has experience actively designing and building gardens for residents in and around Boston, and has long been interested in creating opportunities for residents to create community sufficiency and to build entrepreneurial capacity. She has worked in legal real estate and retail, and brings her skills of communication, community development, and design to her work as a farm manager with Greater Ashmont Main Street as well as to the Wildwood Path, where she comes as a guest mentor to share about listening to the land, tending the wild, and growing community through connection with nature in both urban and rural environments.

Aviva comes to us along winding roads that span cities, forests, gardens, and university classrooms. She found her way to deep nature connection from a seed in her childhood spent running with her father along the Mahicantuck/Hudson River in New York City, where she grew up learning to make sense of her surroundings through the lens of her bilingual and bicultural family. Not originally identifying as a “nature person”, Aviva consciously discovered later in her life that the wild lives everywhere, and now interweaves lessons from Nature into her work acting as a resource for social sector leadership development and non-profit board and staff evolution. Aviva lives out her deep practices of resilience within her personal and professional work and embodies authentic leadership that crosses cultures and embraces diversity– and we are honored to have her as part of the Wildwood team! Aviva joins us as a guest mentor on wilderness programs and works with us offering consulting and training to leaders and teams who want to increase diversity, nature connection, and living systems thinking capacity in their work.

Aviva also serves as the Faculty Director for the Institute for Nonprofit Practice, where she brings her experience facilitating dialogue, creating generative workplace culture and weaving relationships among diverse stakeholders. Prior to joining INP, Aviva directed Harvard University’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations where she managed global civil society research teams and taught courses on strategic financial management, collaborative team design, and fundraising. We know she will keep offering her gifts to the world in ever-changing ways and we’re thrilled to work with her!

Sierra (she/her) has been an artist and a naturalist since birth, when she was named “Sierra Autumn” for the mountains and the season of tree splendor here in the Northeast, where she has lived for her whole life. Born in Nipmuc territory down in Rhode Island, Sierra and her family left the land of their Nipmuc people and ancestors and moved to Maine when Sierra was a baby, and she has been watching birds, identifying whales, and making art here on the coast ever since. Sierra exemplifies awareness, generosity, patience, and skill in her interactions with people and place, and we are lucky to have her join us as a regular instructor of bird language… as well as everything from bark peeling to campfire cooking! Check out her amazing birch bark pyrography work and please support her Native artistry!

Caitlin (she/her), a multi-talented queer leader, traveled the world and honed her business skills before her introduction to tracking, bird language, plant medicine, shelter building, scout skills, and off-grid living in 2014, when she lived and worked at the Maine Primitive Skills School. She has been instrumental in the creation and continuance of The Wildwood Path since it’s inception and is a regular guest mentor as well as a community cross-pollinator and digital wizard. An advocate of self-directed education and anti-oppression changework, her teaching weaves together Joanna Macy’s The Work that Reconnects and Bill Plotkin’s Wild Mind model with expeditions, naturalist skills, and nature connection practices. Caitlin has completed a graduate certificate in Ecopsychology, is being mentored through Animas Institute in facilitating the work of Bill Plotkin and is a UMaine graduate student studying Peace and Reconciliation. She is also a Forest Therapy Guide, and works locally leading place-based self directed learning programs for youth with White Ash Learning Cooperative. Caitlin also practices and teaches permaculture and yoga, and is a treasure trove of enthusiasm and skill in support of nature connection! When she is not working Caitlin enjoys exploring the woods, following animal trails, making medicine, foraging food, creating art, running barefoot and dancing.

For most of her adult life, Wendy Kaas (she/her or they/them) has been in eager pursuit of the inherent magic and mysticism of nature. After a massive perspective-changing healership training in Plant Spirit Medicine, she has resided in genuine awe and wonder at the human potential to be in deep relationship with the natural world. This discovery has led Wendy to their teacher Malidoma Some, a West African elder helping to cultivate mutually beneficial relationships to our ancestors and to the inherent consciousnesses of nature. Born and raised just outside of New York City, Wendy still can’t believe that they can now make a fire from a hand-carved bow drill set and tan animal hides by smushing brains into them. She loves traveling and is really happy to tell you about the time she sailed around the world… but mostly she’s just grateful to be here on this earth, surrounded by inspiring people and the beautiful wilderness of her Colorado home. Wendy is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity through Naropa University in order to hone her capability to support the sacred through ceremony and more.The Wildwood Path is honored to welcome Wendy as a guest once a year to support us in facilitating a grief ritual mid-way through our 9 month journey, and to host occasional workshops or rituals.

Director of Mountainsong Expeditions in Vermont, Murphy (they/them) is a seasoned outdoor guide and women/trans program leader.  Murphy is passionate about helping others reconnect to the spirit of the land by becoming competent and comfortable in the wilderness, and some of their favorite skills to share are safe and responsible backcountry camping, canoeing, archery, wilderness survival (shelter, fire, navigation), woodland crafts, first aid, and ethical hunting.  Murphy sees wilderness expeditions as a path to personal empowerment and spiritual connection with the land and our deepest selves.  As medieval scholar and teacher in the Reclaiming Tradition,  Murphy holds an intention to honor the universal sense of spiritual connection to the land that is deeply nourishing to all people, regardless of their religious affiliation. Murphy lives in rural Vermont and comes to us for a special Spring visit to teach archery & ax skills, and to share about sacred hunting practices. We are grateful to Murphy for supporting and encouraging Wildwood Path participants to step into strength and gain skills with confidence!

A registered nurse, herbalist, and activist, Kyla (she/her or they/them) has studied and worked with various plant healers for over ten years. Kyla has focused on plants that grow in central and coastal Maine and on areas of health that are under-addressed by modern western medicine, including women’s and queer health specifically. Kyla has studied group dynamics, is trained as a facilitator, and has a lifetime of experience with earth-based ceremony in a neo-pagan context. Kyla is a passionate learner, a gifted healer, and an asset as a mentor and community member, including as a board member for Wild Maine Witch Camp. Kyla offers health coaching services in addition to nature connection mentoring and is a regular staff member at our 9 month program as well as leading public classes on wildcrafted herbalism during summer months.

Hannah (she/her) began collecting & cultivating earth skills when she was sixteen… She says that her garden first showed her the world of wild edibles and medicinals, and she followed those plants out of the garden into the world of ancestral skills and the wild ways of the earth. Hannah has studied and worked at various primitive skills school such as Hawk Circle, Flying Deer and Maine Primitive Skills School, and has traveled nomadically, sometimes with pack animals, gathering skills in other countries. Hannah is an experienced hide tanner, crazy about wild fiber arts, and has a strong passion for crafting with raw materials from the earth. Hannah’s commitment to continually developing an intimate connection with the earth and to stepping fully into her role as a caretaker with her is a perfect match for The Wildwood Path, and we are lucky to have her join us annually to share hide tanning skills and more. Check out her school at Way of the Earth School to see more of what she’s up to!