I suspect many of you have a special
place in nature
someplace you go when life feels a
little bit too noisy and stressful a
sanctuary turns out you’re not alone the
most popular Airbnb rental on the planet
isn’t a huge coastal mansion or a swanky
downtown condo
it’s a tiny cabin nestled in the
California woods so perhaps it’s the
woods that is the sanctuary and the
cabin is merely an accessory with or
without the cabin nature is the common
denominator when we seek out these kind
of peaceful retreats so let’s consider
those special places in nature that we
go to heal from life’s traumas as
natural sanctuaries John Muir proposed
this a hundred years ago when he wrote
thousands of tired nerve shaken over
civilized people are beginning to
discover that going to the mountains is
going home that wildness is a necessity
that nature parks and reservations are
more than just fountains of timber and
irrigating rivers they’re fountains of
life in the spirit of John Muir I became
curious about my own interpretation of a
natural sanctuary remote wild places
untrammeled by man I pondered this
question what does it mean to be remote
when I saw a verizon billboard that was
advertising a wash of red cell coverage
across the United States I became
curious about those small isolated
pockets on the map where there was no
coverage annex saw a light pollution map
of the US and again my interest was
piqued by those places that felt like
dark Oasis in a sea of light I began to
consider what it meant for me to be
remote if I could be in a designated
wilderness and look up and see the night
sky obscured by light pollution or if I
could text and Facebook from my sleeping
bag that didn’t you like the true
wilderness my natural sanctuary that I
was looking for so
it evoked the question where was the
most remote place in the continental US
together working with a GIS map maker I
came up with a list of distinct
conditions that for me described my
ideal of remote wilderness together we
put together a layered map of remoteness
and isolated a sliver about 22 square
miles
after some Google Earth scouting I
recruited my adventure buddy Bryce to
join me on a quick expedition to see it
it felt like a pilgrimage to someplace
sacred after leaving pavement we drove
65 miles of dirt road hiked 20 miles of
trail and arrived at the outermost edge
of the civilized world I felt light
untethered and completely absorbed by
the moment absent of man-made
distraction my mental clarity was at its
peak my senses invigorated I think back
to those 48 hours exploring this remote
sanctuary as me being my best self while
the batteries on my phone were weakening
I was recharging off of nature I grew up
as an only child on Deer Creek out in
Dixon Ville and my childhood was spent
playing in the woods in creeks behind my
house
Collective years of my life were spent
building forts doing yard work
yeah yard work right fishing and since
living in Portland for the past 20 years
my various careers of teaching tour
guiding and running a business have
required a lot of people interaction as
a child I was introverted and shy around
people and now I spend a lot of time
around people I spend a lot of time at
the computer and I spend far too much
time more than I’d like away from nature
see the outdoors was my sanctuary and
while living in the city I’ve drifted
from that truth add in the relentless
distraction of emails text messages
social media and the consequence has
been added
cheerier ation of my own mental health
and a declining resilience to those ebbs
and flows of life I’m more susceptible
to depression anxiety stress and
questioning my own self-worth my
relationships with other people suffer
because while I may be present the noise
in my mind prevents me from being
present for those other people two years
ago I put my life on hold and took a
sabbatical for my work because I was no
longer able to pretend that I was okay
or that I could simply flip a switch and
get over it
I felt deep sadness anxiety insecurity I
felt empty
I would never imply that my
circumstances were all that exceptional
but I had lost the mental resilience to
overcome instinctively I knew I needed
to spend time in a remote wild place in
order to tap into that state of mind
that is calm confident and happy I knew
I needed to spend time in my natural
sanctuary some may call it a midlife
crisis
others may diagnosed it as depression
and while it felt very lonely I also
began to realize I was definitely not
alone statistics regarding mental health
in the United States are nothing short
of pandemic one in five adults will
experience a mental illness in any given
year yet over half go untreated now the
consequences of no treatment are pretty
predictable serious mental illness each
year in the United States costs our
country billions in lost earnings is a
leading cause of hospitalization and
premature death estimates suggest that
every day between 18 and 22 veterans die
by suicide for those that are treated we
annually spend more on mental illness
than heart disease cancer and diabetes
so what about alternatives to this
tremendous cost for traditional care it
could require a little more than
spending time in a natural sanctuary a
across science literature culture and
politics a consistent and universal
theme emerges connecting with nature is
good for people now there are whether
it’s the most remote place or the
neighborhood park anecdotal accounts of
how it makes us feel better are endless
and it’s a sentiment that seems to span
otherwise contentious religious and
political barriers even Chuck Norris
devout Christian conservative uber
badass this year wrote spending time in
nature is good for our health most of
the history of our species was spent
lacking buildings and walls we are
essentially wired to live in the natural
world he goes on to reference a nature
therapy – up – in Japan in the early 90s
called shinrin yoku
it’s literally defined as forest bathing
it’s very chuck norris of him well
science as it turns out is developing
some powerful evidence-based
relationships between spending time in
nature and improvements in our mental
health in a 2010 study of shinrin yoku
researchers found that elements of the
environment such as the odor of wood the
sound of running stream water and forest
scenery could provide relaxation and
reduce stress participants in the study
experienced dramatic improvements in
both mood and immunity and there’s no
shortage of additional science to
support these findings estimates suggest
that the average American spends between
80 99 percent of their lives indoors a
trend that has led to a kind of nature
deficit disorder this isn’t a medical
diagnosis but rather a term used to
describe a lifestyle in which the
conditions lead to poor psychological
and physical health
now when treatments include a
prescription to go spend time outdoors
nobody in this room is going to be
surprised that these can be the outcomes
we have very expensive treatments for
all of these conditions yet it could be
that nature has been the antidote to
mental illness all along given the
remarkable impact of these places on our
well-being and the huge economic benefit
of these spaces a new value emerges
beyond the traditional arguments made
for conservation for us to find health
and healing in nature we require access
to nature now does it matter whether
it’s the most remote place or the
neighborhood park in terms of quality of
nature yes in terms of its capacity to
provide healing for someone struggling
with a mental illness perhaps not what’s
important is that each of us identify
our own natural sanctuaries understand
the value of these places to our
collective mental health and be an
advocate for their protection nature
needs us and we need nature Frank and
Jeanne Moore were the unintentional
pioneers of this effort before PTSD
before forest bathing even before Chuck
Norris said so Frank and Jeanie were the
preeminent champions for their own
natural sanctuary on the North Umpqua
River as a veteran of World War two
Frank was not immune to the trauma of
war and when he returned he spent days
fly-fishing so many in fact that his
wife Jeannie placed an ad in the
Roseburg newspaper lost one owner and
manager of Moores cafe last seen up the
North Umpqua River in the early 60s
Frank and Jeanie found the North Umpqua
River and it’s tributaries under threat
from destructive logging practices and
greedy local interests their story would
define a legacy
every spring the buds pop the leaves
come out again having fun going cycle
and boy I’ve had one 95 cycles now
in June 1944 I came ashore in Normandy
at Utah Beach for the next year as part
of the 450 third we fought our way
through France Luxembourg Belgium and on
into Germany
I didn’t live
I exist
I saw things that you never get over
it’s always with you I’m grateful that
for some reason I was jailed from back
[Music]
Frank and I were married 75 years ago
just before he had to ship out for a
world war 2 when he returned like so
many of the other young man he was
struggling with me today you call PTSD
all of a sudden I start to break down
and just bawling like a baby and I
wouldn’t be as loving as I could have
been to my wonderful wife
I suppose I thought it it might have
something to do with the war because I’d
only didn’t talk to me about it
I didn’t know how to help him but I
could see that he felt a sense of peace
what he was fly fishing on the North
Omaha
[Music]
I can still remember how I’d be standing
out there and watching the swallows fly
around and even looking up and see the
Rock Bluffs of the beautiful north end
party
looking down and see a big steelhead
swirl at the bottom of the pool
Steamboat Creek and his all of its
tributaries was set aside with no
angling back in Monday in the 25th and
it is truly amazing that back then
someone had enough foresight to realize
that this had to be protected it’s
because of the protected spawning
grounds that the North Umpqua River is
the incredible fisheries for a while
steelhead that it is over the years I
have seen abuses to this watershed that
are not to the benefit of the land the
waters or the American people
I would take a temperature above which
there cut it would be in the summertime
usually be 56 57 degrees and go down and
blow what a clear cut was and go up as
high as 80 for just a short distance it
would climb 30 degrees he doesn’t take
many like that to wipe out all life
within this dream Frank and I have
worked a lot of years to protect this
place the legislation that is proposed
is designed to recognize Steamboat Creek
as a special place for wildlife plants
and people the area will be called the
Franken gene more while still had
sanctuary and it encompasses 100,000
acres all the drainages within the
steamboat Creek it’s also a sanctuary
where people can go and have a rebirth
rebuilding their souls the natural world
helps people heal
[Music]
a lovely is the hand of God this moves
the rough based manners time
[Music]
Frank isn’t the only veteran struggling
with PTSD who has found fly-fishing on
places like the North Umpqua to be
therapeutic
rusty Linenger served eight years in the
US Army and also found healing for his
PTSD through fly-fishing in 2016 he
started source one serenity a nonprofit
that provides fly-fishing retreats on
the Umpqua geared specifically for
combat veterans numerous other
organizations are emerging across the
u.s. whose mission it is to heal
struggling veterans by immersing them in
natural sanctuaries there are a few
projections for our future which are
learning our population is expected to
grow to nearly 10 billion by 2050 today
over half of us live in cities and will
continue to tip the scales towards a
more urban lifestyle this means more
people living more disconnected from
nature which trends and studies suggest
is will continue to erode away our
collective mental health whether it’s
the most remote place the North Umpqua
River or the neighborhood park all are
valuable and all are vulnerable if
conservation initiatives feel
impractical consider our veterans
returning from war our children growing
up in an urbanized world or the one in
five of us in this room that struggle
with our own mental health for us
natural sanctuaries matter Frank and
Jeanie are great examples of the more
than words effort it takes to protect a
place on behalf of the plants animals
and people that seek sanctuary there
look in your own backyard to see where
nature needs help and be a champion for
its protection nature needs us and we
need nature like Frank and Jeanne we all
have the capacity to save our
sanctuaries
[Applause]
place in nature
someplace you go when life feels a
little bit too noisy and stressful a
sanctuary turns out you’re not alone the
most popular Airbnb rental on the planet
isn’t a huge coastal mansion or a swanky
downtown condo
it’s a tiny cabin nestled in the
California woods so perhaps it’s the
woods that is the sanctuary and the
cabin is merely an accessory with or
without the cabin nature is the common
denominator when we seek out these kind
of peaceful retreats so let’s consider
those special places in nature that we
go to heal from life’s traumas as
natural sanctuaries John Muir proposed
this a hundred years ago when he wrote
thousands of tired nerve shaken over
civilized people are beginning to
discover that going to the mountains is
going home that wildness is a necessity
that nature parks and reservations are
more than just fountains of timber and
irrigating rivers they’re fountains of
life in the spirit of John Muir I became
curious about my own interpretation of a
natural sanctuary remote wild places
untrammeled by man I pondered this
question what does it mean to be remote
when I saw a verizon billboard that was
advertising a wash of red cell coverage
across the United States I became
curious about those small isolated
pockets on the map where there was no
coverage annex saw a light pollution map
of the US and again my interest was
piqued by those places that felt like
dark Oasis in a sea of light I began to
consider what it meant for me to be
remote if I could be in a designated
wilderness and look up and see the night
sky obscured by light pollution or if I
could text and Facebook from my sleeping
bag that didn’t you like the true
wilderness my natural sanctuary that I
was looking for so
it evoked the question where was the
most remote place in the continental US
together working with a GIS map maker I
came up with a list of distinct
conditions that for me described my
ideal of remote wilderness together we
put together a layered map of remoteness
and isolated a sliver about 22 square
miles
after some Google Earth scouting I
recruited my adventure buddy Bryce to
join me on a quick expedition to see it
it felt like a pilgrimage to someplace
sacred after leaving pavement we drove
65 miles of dirt road hiked 20 miles of
trail and arrived at the outermost edge
of the civilized world I felt light
untethered and completely absorbed by
the moment absent of man-made
distraction my mental clarity was at its
peak my senses invigorated I think back
to those 48 hours exploring this remote
sanctuary as me being my best self while
the batteries on my phone were weakening
I was recharging off of nature I grew up
as an only child on Deer Creek out in
Dixon Ville and my childhood was spent
playing in the woods in creeks behind my
house
Collective years of my life were spent
building forts doing yard work
yeah yard work right fishing and since
living in Portland for the past 20 years
my various careers of teaching tour
guiding and running a business have
required a lot of people interaction as
a child I was introverted and shy around
people and now I spend a lot of time
around people I spend a lot of time at
the computer and I spend far too much
time more than I’d like away from nature
see the outdoors was my sanctuary and
while living in the city I’ve drifted
from that truth add in the relentless
distraction of emails text messages
social media and the consequence has
been added
cheerier ation of my own mental health
and a declining resilience to those ebbs
and flows of life I’m more susceptible
to depression anxiety stress and
questioning my own self-worth my
relationships with other people suffer
because while I may be present the noise
in my mind prevents me from being
present for those other people two years
ago I put my life on hold and took a
sabbatical for my work because I was no
longer able to pretend that I was okay
or that I could simply flip a switch and
get over it
I felt deep sadness anxiety insecurity I
felt empty
I would never imply that my
circumstances were all that exceptional
but I had lost the mental resilience to
overcome instinctively I knew I needed
to spend time in a remote wild place in
order to tap into that state of mind
that is calm confident and happy I knew
I needed to spend time in my natural
sanctuary some may call it a midlife
crisis
others may diagnosed it as depression
and while it felt very lonely I also
began to realize I was definitely not
alone statistics regarding mental health
in the United States are nothing short
of pandemic one in five adults will
experience a mental illness in any given
year yet over half go untreated now the
consequences of no treatment are pretty
predictable serious mental illness each
year in the United States costs our
country billions in lost earnings is a
leading cause of hospitalization and
premature death estimates suggest that
every day between 18 and 22 veterans die
by suicide for those that are treated we
annually spend more on mental illness
than heart disease cancer and diabetes
so what about alternatives to this
tremendous cost for traditional care it
could require a little more than
spending time in a natural sanctuary a
across science literature culture and
politics a consistent and universal
theme emerges connecting with nature is
good for people now there are whether
it’s the most remote place or the
neighborhood park anecdotal accounts of
how it makes us feel better are endless
and it’s a sentiment that seems to span
otherwise contentious religious and
political barriers even Chuck Norris
devout Christian conservative uber
badass this year wrote spending time in
nature is good for our health most of
the history of our species was spent
lacking buildings and walls we are
essentially wired to live in the natural
world he goes on to reference a nature
therapy – up – in Japan in the early 90s
called shinrin yoku
it’s literally defined as forest bathing
it’s very chuck norris of him well
science as it turns out is developing
some powerful evidence-based
relationships between spending time in
nature and improvements in our mental
health in a 2010 study of shinrin yoku
researchers found that elements of the
environment such as the odor of wood the
sound of running stream water and forest
scenery could provide relaxation and
reduce stress participants in the study
experienced dramatic improvements in
both mood and immunity and there’s no
shortage of additional science to
support these findings estimates suggest
that the average American spends between
80 99 percent of their lives indoors a
trend that has led to a kind of nature
deficit disorder this isn’t a medical
diagnosis but rather a term used to
describe a lifestyle in which the
conditions lead to poor psychological
and physical health
now when treatments include a
prescription to go spend time outdoors
nobody in this room is going to be
surprised that these can be the outcomes
we have very expensive treatments for
all of these conditions yet it could be
that nature has been the antidote to
mental illness all along given the
remarkable impact of these places on our
well-being and the huge economic benefit
of these spaces a new value emerges
beyond the traditional arguments made
for conservation for us to find health
and healing in nature we require access
to nature now does it matter whether
it’s the most remote place or the
neighborhood park in terms of quality of
nature yes in terms of its capacity to
provide healing for someone struggling
with a mental illness perhaps not what’s
important is that each of us identify
our own natural sanctuaries understand
the value of these places to our
collective mental health and be an
advocate for their protection nature
needs us and we need nature Frank and
Jeanne Moore were the unintentional
pioneers of this effort before PTSD
before forest bathing even before Chuck
Norris said so Frank and Jeanie were the
preeminent champions for their own
natural sanctuary on the North Umpqua
River as a veteran of World War two
Frank was not immune to the trauma of
war and when he returned he spent days
fly-fishing so many in fact that his
wife Jeannie placed an ad in the
Roseburg newspaper lost one owner and
manager of Moores cafe last seen up the
North Umpqua River in the early 60s
Frank and Jeanie found the North Umpqua
River and it’s tributaries under threat
from destructive logging practices and
greedy local interests their story would
define a legacy
every spring the buds pop the leaves
come out again having fun going cycle
and boy I’ve had one 95 cycles now
in June 1944 I came ashore in Normandy
at Utah Beach for the next year as part
of the 450 third we fought our way
through France Luxembourg Belgium and on
into Germany
I didn’t live
I exist
I saw things that you never get over
it’s always with you I’m grateful that
for some reason I was jailed from back
[Music]
Frank and I were married 75 years ago
just before he had to ship out for a
world war 2 when he returned like so
many of the other young man he was
struggling with me today you call PTSD
all of a sudden I start to break down
and just bawling like a baby and I
wouldn’t be as loving as I could have
been to my wonderful wife
I suppose I thought it it might have
something to do with the war because I’d
only didn’t talk to me about it
I didn’t know how to help him but I
could see that he felt a sense of peace
what he was fly fishing on the North
Omaha
[Music]
I can still remember how I’d be standing
out there and watching the swallows fly
around and even looking up and see the
Rock Bluffs of the beautiful north end
party
looking down and see a big steelhead
swirl at the bottom of the pool
Steamboat Creek and his all of its
tributaries was set aside with no
angling back in Monday in the 25th and
it is truly amazing that back then
someone had enough foresight to realize
that this had to be protected it’s
because of the protected spawning
grounds that the North Umpqua River is
the incredible fisheries for a while
steelhead that it is over the years I
have seen abuses to this watershed that
are not to the benefit of the land the
waters or the American people
I would take a temperature above which
there cut it would be in the summertime
usually be 56 57 degrees and go down and
blow what a clear cut was and go up as
high as 80 for just a short distance it
would climb 30 degrees he doesn’t take
many like that to wipe out all life
within this dream Frank and I have
worked a lot of years to protect this
place the legislation that is proposed
is designed to recognize Steamboat Creek
as a special place for wildlife plants
and people the area will be called the
Franken gene more while still had
sanctuary and it encompasses 100,000
acres all the drainages within the
steamboat Creek it’s also a sanctuary
where people can go and have a rebirth
rebuilding their souls the natural world
helps people heal
[Music]
a lovely is the hand of God this moves
the rough based manners time
[Music]
Frank isn’t the only veteran struggling
with PTSD who has found fly-fishing on
places like the North Umpqua to be
therapeutic
rusty Linenger served eight years in the
US Army and also found healing for his
PTSD through fly-fishing in 2016 he
started source one serenity a nonprofit
that provides fly-fishing retreats on
the Umpqua geared specifically for
combat veterans numerous other
organizations are emerging across the
u.s. whose mission it is to heal
struggling veterans by immersing them in
natural sanctuaries there are a few
projections for our future which are
learning our population is expected to
grow to nearly 10 billion by 2050 today
over half of us live in cities and will
continue to tip the scales towards a
more urban lifestyle this means more
people living more disconnected from
nature which trends and studies suggest
is will continue to erode away our
collective mental health whether it’s
the most remote place the North Umpqua
River or the neighborhood park all are
valuable and all are vulnerable if
conservation initiatives feel
impractical consider our veterans
returning from war our children growing
up in an urbanized world or the one in
five of us in this room that struggle
with our own mental health for us
natural sanctuaries matter Frank and
Jeanie are great examples of the more
than words effort it takes to protect a
place on behalf of the plants animals
and people that seek sanctuary there
look in your own backyard to see where
nature needs help and be a champion for
its protection nature needs us and we
need nature like Frank and Jeanne we all
have the capacity to save our
sanctuaries
[Applause]
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