Jessica

Jess is in love with plants and trail cycling and their favorite underrated wilderness skill is hanging out.

Lately, Jess has been connecting with soldier worms, spiderwort, and soil microbes.

The projects they’re currently most excited about are building a hyper-local tree nursery and building programming for people with diverse sensory perspectives to connect with the natural world.

After becoming a Master Naturalist and taking plant medicine classes in Michigan, Jess moved to Washington State to pursue their fascination with the outdoors full time at a 9-month Wilderness Certification Program at Alderleaf Wilderness College. There, Jess was certified in Permaculture Design, Wilderness First Aid, and became a Level 3 Track & Sign tracker.

Jess then began to teach at Earth Native Wilderness School where they were a lead instructor for seven years, teaching kids and adults outside full time. They deepened their plant knowledge through the Sam Coffman’s Herbal Medic program and the Community and Clinical programs at the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine, graduating in 2016.

Jess is now an herbalist, nature mentor, and an American Sign Language and Protactile interpreter. They dream of liberation, autonomy, and a life in common.

Jess sees their work as a sign language interpreter, herbalist, and outdoor educator, as interwoven offerings toward liberation. Because they believe that we, as humans, are part of nature and not separate from it, they believe that everyone should be able to spend time in nature, healing our relationship with it.