Spring Creek Project

Bruce Byers (Visiting Scholar) is an ecologist, independent consultant, and writer with more than 35 years of professional experience in more than 40 countries. He works at the interface of ecology and sustainable development, combining an academic background in ecology and evolution with extensive practical experience in applied social sciences. Bruce provides ecological consulting services to U.S. government agencies and international and domestic non-governmental organizations on forest management, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, and environmental communication and behavior change through Bruce Byers Consulting, his independent consulting business. He writes about his consulting and research in academic journals, reports for consulting clients, and his blog Ecologia. He was the Fall 2018 Howard L. McKee Ecology Resident at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Otis, Oregon, where he researched and wrote a book of creative nonfiction essays on the Cascade Head Biosphere Reserve, titled The View from Cascade Head: Lessons for the Biosphere from the Oregon Coast, to be published by Oregon State University Press.

Claire Giordano (Visiting Artist) is an internationally published artist and writer whose work connects people, place, and science. Grounded in extensive wilderness experience and years working in the outdoor industry as an environmental educator and in social media marketing, she crafts creative written and visual stories to communicate data, climate change, brand identity, and marketing campaigns. Through creative use of light, shadow, and pattern, her paintings emphasize the broader values of outdoor recreation and our responsibilities as stewards of the environment. Her work was featured in multiple issues of Alpinist magazine, Stay Wild magazine, She Explores, and the Waymaking anthology of women’s stories.

Deirdre Hyde (Visiting Artist) is a British painter who graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Reading. She has lived in Costa Rica for the past 40 years, where she has collaborated in conservation efforts throughout the region. Her work ranges from illustrations and large-format canvases to educational materials for National Parks, and she explores themes such as climate change and human threats to natural spaces. Her work can be found in private and public collections throughout the world, including at the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Society, Frank Gehry’s Biomuseo in Panama, and Canning House. In fall of 2019, she is exhibiting her work at PreCOP25, an international meeting preceding the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. She has also been an artist-in-residence at Abruzzo National Park in Italy, Schumacher College in the UK, and Wilson Botanical Garden in Costa Rica.

Ann T. Rosenthal (Visiting Artist) brings to communities over 30 years’ experience as an artist, educator, and writer. Her work examines the intersections of nature and culture through timely issues, including climate change, toxins in water and food, biodiversity, and biophilia. Ann’s essays on eco/community art have been published in several journals and anthologies, including “Redefining Beauty in the Context of Sustainability” in Regenerative Infrastructures (New York: Prestel, 2013). Her work has been exhibited across the U.S., in Germany and Japan. In 2018, she participated in several group exhibitions and was featured in a solo show at the School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In May, she co-chaired with Judith Li and presented her work on the panel “At the Confluence of Freshwater Science and the Humanities” for the Society for Freshwater Science annual conference in Detroit. Ann teaches art and art history courses through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Pittsburgh. In 2016, Ann initiated LUNA (Learning Urban Nature through Art), a community-focused art and nature program, partnering with public schools and environmental and community organizations. She received her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 1999.

Callum Angus (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is a trans and queer writer who has received fellowships from Lambda Literary and Signal Fire Foundation for the Arts. His work has appeared in Catapult, The Common, The Offing, BuzzFeed, The Normal School, them, The Millions, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and has taught writing at both UMass Amherst and Smith College. Read more of his work on his website.

Derek Sheffield (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is a poet, visiting faculty member at Central Washington University, and poetry editor of Terrain.org. He is the author of the book Through the Second Skin and of two poetry chapbooks, A Mouthpiece of Thumbs and A Revised Account of the West, which won the Environmental Chapbook Award in 2008. He has earned dozens of poetry awards and honors and has completed previous residencies at Mount St. Helens, the Bernheim Arboretum & Research Forest, and elsewhere. His poetry and essays have appeared in The Georgia Review, Crab Creek Review, The Southern Review, Orion, Terrain.org, and many other publications.

Vincent Miller (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton. He holds a Ph.D. in Systematic and Philosophical Theology from the University of Notre Dame. Miller edited The Theological and Ecological Vision of Laudato Si’: Everything Is Connected (2017), an interdisciplinary textbook written by scholars of theology, ethics, science and policy. His research and teaching bring elements of environmental and cultural studies to theology.

Jolie Kaytes (Visiting Writer) is an associate professor of landscape architecture at Washington State University. Her teaching, writing, and images integrate disciplinary perspectives and focus on recognizing the complexity of landscapes. Jolie’s work has appeared in Fourth River, Spiral Orb, ISLE, Terrain.org, Camas, and elsewhere. She holds a B.S. in Conservation and Resources Studies from UC Berkeley and a Bachelors and Masters of Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon.

Ellen Bass (Blue River Fellow) is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Her book Like a Beggar (Copper Canyon Press, 2014) was a finalist for The Paterson Poetry Prize, The Publishers Triangle Award, The Milt Kessler Poetry Award, The Lambda Literary Award, and the Northern California Book Award. Her previous books include The Human Line (Copper Canyon Press, 2007) and Mules of Love (BOA Editions, 2002), which won The Lambda Literary Award. She co-edited (with Florence Howe) the first major anthology of women’s poetry, No More Masks! (Doubleday, 1973).

Courtney Carlson (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is a writer and Assistant Professor at the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. She has studied at both Boston College and Mansfield College, and currently resides in Laramie, Wyoming. 

Nancy Lord (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is passionate about place, history, and the natural environment. From her many years of commercial salmon fishing and, later, work as a naturalist and historian on adventure cruise ships, she’s explored in both fiction and nonfiction the myths and realities of life in the north. Among her published books are three collections of short stories and five works of literary nonfiction, including the memoir Fishcamp, the cautionary Beluga Days, and the front-lines story of climate change, Early Warming. She most recently (2016) edited the anthology Made of Salmon: Alaska Stories From The Salmon Project.  Her novel, The Pteropod Gang, is forthcoming (2017) from Graphic Arts/Alaska Northwest Books. View her selected work on her website.

Ellen Waterston (Blue River Fellow) is a poet, author and literary arts advocate. She is the author of Vía Láctea: A Woman of a Certain Age Walks the Camino, Where the Crooked River Rises, and a memoir, Then There Was No Mountain, which was rated one of the top 10 books of 2003 by the Oregonian and a WILLA finalist. After 11 years as founder/director of The Nature of Words, a literary arts nonprofit, she passed the baton in 2012 to focus on the Writing Ranch, the Waterston Desert Writing Prize, and her own writing. Founded by Waterston in 2000, the Writing Ranch offers writing workshops and retreats. The Waterston Desert Writing Prize, established in 2014, is awarded annually each June to nonfiction projects concerning deserts anywhere in the world. Waterston is completing a fourth collection of poetry, and is at work on nonfiction examining land use issues in the high desert.

Justin Ralls (Visiting Musician) is a composer, conductor, and writer, hailing from the Pacific Northwest, who believes in the transformative and communal power of music. Tree Ride, a piece for large orchestra inspired by conservationist John Muir, recently won the James Highsmith Composition Award, receiving its premiere by the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra in the Fall of 2013. In addition, Ralls’ works have been performed by a variety of orchestras, soloists, and ensembles both nationally and internationally. He has personally conducted his work on numerous national and international stages. Visit Justin online.

David Gessner (Blue River Fellow) is a writer, editor, and cartoonist. His books include All the Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner and the American West; Sick of Nature; and Return of the Osprey. Gessner has published essays in many magazines, including Outside Magazine and the New York Times Magazine, and he has won the John Burroughs Award for Best Nature Essay, a Pushcart Prize, and inclusion in Best American Nonrequired Reading. Visit David online.

John Bates (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is the author of seven books on the Northwoods and Upper Midwest, and a contributor to four others. He has worked as a state forest naturalist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and owns Trails North, a naturalist guide service. He also conducts outdoor classes for Nicolet College, the University of Wisconsin Extension, and the North Lakeland Discovery Center. For twenty years he has written a biweekly column, "A Northwoods Almanac," for the Lakeland Times in Minocqua, Wisconsin. Visit John online. 

Mary Burns (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) expresses her love of northern woodlands and waters in her weavings and writings. Mary's first novel Heartwood is a fantasy/natural history novel for young adults. An award-winning weaver, she weaves custom designed hand-woven rugs and wall pieces. Mary also creates tapestries and felted work that reflect the hues and patterns of the natural world. Visit Mary online.

Ian Boyden (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) works across multiple media including painting, sculpture, artist's books, photography, site-specific installations, and land art. His work is interdisciplinary, and he often collaborates with a variety of scientists, poets, composers, and other visual artists. His books and paintings are found in many public collections including Reed College, Stanford University, the Portland Art Museum, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Boyden is also a speaker, writer, and curator. He currently serves as the executive director of the San Juan Islands Museum of Art. Visit Ian online.

Frederick H. Swanson (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is the author of Where Roads Will Never Reach: Wilderness and Its Visionaries in the Northern Rockies (University of Utah Press, 2015) and The Bitterroot and Mr. Brandborg: Clearcutting and the Struggle for Sustainable Forestry in the Northern Rockies (University of Utah Press, 2011), among others. His books and articles deal with the history, use, and misuse of public lands during the twentieth century, with particular focus on wilderness areas, national parks, and national forests. An editor and publications designer for twenty-five years, he now writes full-time in the foothills of Utah’s Wasatch Range.

Bob Keefer (Visiting Artist) grew up in the woods of Alabama, Minnesota, and South Carolina before his family moved to the concrete expanses of Los Angeles when he was eight. As a photographer and artist, he may be trying to recapture the mystery of those childhood forests through a historic art form, hand-colored black and white photography, which combines the cool Modernist process of photography and the more personal art of painting. Along the way he studied history of religion at Harvard and spent three decades as a newspaper arts writer before retiring to spend more time photographing the Northwest. His work has been shown at galleries in Eugene, Corvallis, and Portland, and is in the Art About Agriculture Permanent Collection at Oregon State University's College of Agricultural Sciences. He was an artist in residence at Andrews Forest in 2014, and his works grace the cover and interior of the book Forest Under Story with writings from the Long-Term Ecological Reflections program.

Thomas Titus (Visiting Writer) left the Pacific Northwest to attend the University of Kansas, where he completed a Ph.D. in evolutionary genetics. Tom returned to Oregon and works as a research biologist and instructor at the University of Oregon. His book, Blackberries in July: A Forager’s Field Guide to Inner Peace, describes his return to Oregon. Tom is currently the president of the Eugene Natural History Society and writes a monthly column for their publication Nature Trails. 

Michael G. Smith (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is a very-early retired chemist whose poems are forthcoming or have been published in many literary journals. He has published three poetry books, No Small Things, The Dark is Different in Reverse, and The Dippers Do Their Part, co-authored with Laura Young from their residency at the Spring Creek Project’s Shotpouch Cabin. He conducts workshops on the intersections of poetry, science, mathematics and Nature, and lives in Santa Fe, NM. 

Charlotte Austin (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is an adventure writer, world traveler, and mountaineering specialist. She walks the walk when she talks the talk in her poems, short stories, articles, and vignettes. She is a certified and experienced Wilderness EMT, International Mountain Guide, and holds a Level 2 certification from the American Institute for Avalanche Education and Training. Widely published, she has contributed articles to many regional and national magazines. In 2013 she co-edited a writers anthology, The Better Bombshell: Writers and Artists Redefine the Female Role Model. Visit Charlotte online.   

Andrew C. Gottlieb (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) writes book reviews, essays, fiction, interviews, memoir, and poetry. His work has appeared in many literary journals and online magazines, including the American Literary Review, Arts & Letters, Bellevue Literary Review, Denver Quarterly, Ecotone, Flyfish Journal, ISLE, Mississippi Review, Orion, Poets & Writers, Sierra Nevada Review, Sugar House Review, and Tampa Review. He’s the author of two chapbooks of poems, Flow Variations (Finishing Line Press, 2017) and Halflives (New Michigan Press, 2005). In 2010 he won an American Fiction Prize for his short story “Stickmen.” He has taught composition and short story writing at Iowa State University and at the University of Washington, where he received his MA and MFA. He’s currently on the editorial board for Terrain.org and was the reviews editor for five years. Gottlieb has been awarded grants from the Seattle Arts Commission and the Seattle-based Artist Trust Foundation, has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize, and has been writer-in-residence at six different, often wilderness, locations. He completed his first Andrews Forest Writing Residency in 2012 and visited again in 2014.

Leah Wilson (Long-Term Artist-in-Residence with Continuing Engagement) received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Art Institute of Southern California. After earning an Master of Fine Arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute, she moved to Nevada City in the Sierra Nevada foothills to pursue making art and teaching whitewater kayaking. In 2008, Wilson moved to Eugene, Oregon. A 2012 artist residency at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest introduced her to ecologists working on long-term studies in the forest. That experience, and her interactions with the scientists, relates to her current work. Wilson’s interaction with the forest and its associated ecologists led her to realize that science in general, and ecology in particular, seeks to identify patterns (and changes in patterns) over time. Often, in terms of process and product, the most evident element of her work is repetition, rhythm, and pattern related to water in general, and rivers and streams in particular. Leah is a founding member of Gray Space, a group of Oregon artists, based in the Corvallis, Eugene and Roseburg areas, that fosters creative strength, exchange and exploration. Gray Space explores how art influences place and place influences art. Leah Wilson’s artwork has been exhibited at galleries throughout the West Coast including the Hult Center Plaza in Eugene, Oregon, the Roger W. Rogers Gallery at Willamette University, Cascade Gallery at Portland Community College and Guardino Gallery in Portland, Oregon, the Arts Center in Corvallis, Oregon, and Julie Baker Fine Art in Nevada City, California. Her work is in the collections of Oregon State University, Umpqua Community College, Adobe Systems Inc., eBay, Inc., and other corporate and private collections.

Sandra Alcosser (Blue River Fellow) is a poet whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times, Paris Review, Ploughshares, Poetry and the Pushcart Prize Anthology.  A Fish to Feed All Hunger and Except by Nature received the highest awards from the National Poetry Series, Academy of American Poets and Associated Writing Programs. She serves on the graduate faculty of Pacific University and San Diego State University. 

Brian Turner (Blue River Fellow) is a poet, essayist, biographer and editor. As one of New Zealand's most significant writers on landscape, environmentalism and sport, Turner brings a fresh perspective to nature poetry, and at once aims to be personal but unsentimental in his approach. Brian Turner was appointed as the fourth Te Mata Estate New Zealand Poet Laureate in 2003. His work is frequently anthologized in collections of poetry and literary sports writing. He has published numerous collections of poetry, as well as works of non-fiction.

Karin Gastreich (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) writes tales of ordinary women and the extraordinary paths they choose. The worlds she creates are a strange amalgamation of medieval Europe and colonial Costa Rica, with misty forests, vast savannas, and steamy jungles. They are populated by brave heroines, noble heroes, and twisted villains. Karin's novels blend elements of epic fantasy, historical fiction, and romance. Grounded in traditional fantasy and real history, she crafts a diverse array of compelling male and female characters, weaving the natural world into all her stories.

Carey Bagdassarian (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) teaches in the Chemistry Department at The College of William and Mary. His research interests have meandered over the years, settling, finally, at the interface of art and science. He hopes to create, with his colleague Elizabeth Mead in the Art Department, a reciprocal and emergent dialogue between the two.

John Calderazzo (Visiting Writer) recently retired from 30 years of teaching creative nonfiction workshops at Colorado State University. Mentoring students, many of whom have become friends and fellow writers, has been one of the major joys of his life.  A former full time freelance writer, John has written three nonfiction books, a poetry chapbook, co-edited a nature anthology, and published essays, stories, and poems in venues such as Audubon, Orion, High Country News, Best American Nature Writing, and elsewhere.

Chris Norment (Visiting Scholar) is a professor of environmental science and biology at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. His book Return to Warden's Grove: Science, Desire and the Lives of Sparrows was nominated for the John Burroughs Medal. Norment earned his PhD in systematics and ecology from the University of Kansas. He has published extensively in ecology, avian breeding biology, grassland ecology, and the ecology of arctic and alpine environments.

Elizabeth Farnsworth (Visiting Scholar) is a senior research ecologist and scientific illustrator at the New England Wild Flower Society in Massachusetts, a research associate at Harvard Forest, and senior editor of Rhodora. She has completed hundreds of technical drawings for the award-winning web application, Go Botany. 

Aaron Ellison (Visiting Scholar) is the Senior Research Fellow in Ecology at the Harvard Forest, and an Adjunct Research Professor in the departments of Biology and Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has authored or co-authored over 100 scientific papers, dozens of book reviews and software reviews, and the books A Primer of Ecological Statistics (2004) and A Field Guide to the Ants of New England (2012). Visit Aaron online.

Gary Paul Nabhan (Blue River Fellow) is an internationally-celebrated nature writer, food and farming activist, and proponent of conserving the links between biodiversity and cultural diversity. He has been honored as a pioneer and creative force in the "local food movement" and seed saving community by Utne Reader, Mother Earth News, New York Times, Bioneers and Time magazine. Visit Gary online.

Jim Dodge (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is an American novelist and poet whose works combine themes of folklore and fantasy, set in a timeless present. He has published three novels, Fup, Not Fade Away and Stone Junction, and a collection of poetry and prose, Rain on the River.

Maya Jewell Zeller (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) grew up in rural areas of the Pacific Northwest. She is the author of Rust Fish, a collection of poetry from Lost Horse Press. Her nonfiction and poetry appear in Pleiades, West Branch, Cincinnati Review, and elsewhere. Maya lives in Spokane with her husband and two small children.

Anita Sullivan (Visiting Writer) is a piano tuner, poet, editor, publisher, gardener, translator, birdwatcher, and rock art enthusiast. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Pacific Lutheran University. In addition to her books, Anita has published many essays, book reviews and poems both off and on line, and her work has been anthologized. Visit Anita online.

Kim Stafford (Visiting Writer) directs the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College, and is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, including Having Everything Right and 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: How My Brother Disappeared. His poetry chapbook How to Sleep Cold is forthcoming in fall 2016 from Limberlost Press. He has taught writing in Scotland, Italy, and Bhutan. Visit Kim online. 

Scott Russell Sanders (Blue River Fellow) is the author of twenty books of fiction and nonfiction, including A Private History of Awe and A Conservationist Manifesto. The best of his essays from the past thirty years, plus nine new essays, are collected in Earth Works, published in 2012 by Indiana University Press. Among his honors are the Lannan Literary Award, the John Burroughs Essay Award, the Mark Twain Award, the Cecil Woods Award for Nonfiction, the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2012 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Indiana University, where he taught from 1971 to 2009. Visit Scott online. 

Cristina Eisenberg (Visiting Scholar in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014) is an ecologist, research scientist, and writer whose books include The Carnivore Way and The Wolf’s Tooth. She serves as a lead scientist with Earthwatch Institute, as an instructor at Oregon State University and Yellowstone Association, a Smithsonian Research Associate, and on the editorial boards of the Ecological Society of America and Oregon State University Press.  Visit Cristina online.

Mary Evelyn Tucker (Blue River Fellow) is a Senior Lecturer and Senior Scholar at Yale University where she has appointments in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies as well as the Divinity School and the Department of Religious Studies. She is a co-founder and co-director with John Grim of the Forum on Religion and Ecology. Together they organized a series of ten conferences on World Religions and Ecology at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. She is the author of Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase (Open Court Press, 2003), Moral and Spiritual Cultivation in Japanese Neo-Confucianism (SUNY, 1989) and The Philosophy of Qi (Columbia University Press, 2007).

Christina Lovin (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is the author of What We Burned for Warmth (Finishing Line Press). Further publication credits include: Harvard Summer Review, Diner, Hunger Mountain,The Bark, Missing Mountains, Coal: An Anthology, and other journals and anthologies. She is the recipient of several artists' grants from the Kentucky Arts Council. Visit Christina online.

Kevin McKelvey (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is a poet and essayist who teaches writing, editing, and publishing at the University of Indianapolis. He has held residencies at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow, H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest, and Isle Royale National Park. Part of his book-length sequence inspired by the Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area in Indiana were published in Dream Wilderness, a chapbook. The Indiana Arts Commission awarded him a grant to write poems about Indiana's Wabash River. He lives with his wife and two children in Indianapolis in a house built in 1890. Visit Kevin online. 

Vicki Graham (Andrews Forest Writing Resident) is the author of three collections of poetry, The Hummingbird's Tongue, The Tenderness of Bees, and Alembic, teaches English, Creative Writing, and Environmental Studies at the University of Minnesota, Morris. She divides her time between the Minnesota prairie and the southern coast of Oregon. Her poems and articles have appeared in Poetry, The Midwest Quarterly, ISLE, EarthLines Magazine, and Seneca Review, among others.

Scott Slovic (Blue River fellow) is professor of literature and environment and chair of the graduate program in literature and environment at the University of Nevada, Reno. The founding president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) from 1992 to 1995, he has edited ASLE's journal, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, since 1995. Scott is the author of nearly 100 articles on environmental literature and eco-criticism and is author, editor, or co-editor of thirteen books, including Seeking Awareness in American Nature Writing (1992), Getting Over the Color Green (2001), The ISLE Reader (2003), What's Nature Worth? (2004), and Wild Nevada (2005), among others. Much of his work these days explores the connection between narrative language and the expression of environmental values.

Robert Michael Pyle (Blue River Fellow) was the first Andrews Forest Resident. An independent scholar, biologist, and writer, he dwells along a tributary of the Lower Columbia. His 24 books include Wintergreen, The Thunder Tree, Where Bigfoot Walks, Walking the High Ridge, and Mariposa Road, as well as the novel Magdalena Mountain, three collections of poetry, and a flight of butterfly books. He is an Honorary Life Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and the founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.