THe founding members…

of the Nature Connection Netwokr represented primarily organizations that shared a lineage tracking back to Jon Young and 8 Shields and/or Tom Brown, Jr. and The Tracker School. Many were also influenced by Lakota Elder Gilbert Walking Bull and Mohawk Chief Jake Tekaronianeken Swamp.

Beginning in 1983, with the founding of Wilderness Awareness School, a “mentoring” style of teaching wilderness skills was a hallmark of programs seeking to move from “nature education” to “nature connection.” The mostly white, mostly male leaders founding these organizations across North America drew on naturalist science and the traditional ecological knowledge gleaned from relationships with Indigenous people, like Gilbert and Jake. Resources such as Kamana: Exploring Natural Mystery, Seeing through Native Eyes (no longer offered due to the insensitive title and content) and Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature became staples to help these growing organizations train new staff.

Today, NCN, together with its members, is reconciling its relationship with the nature connection movement initiated by Jon Young and Tom Brown, Jr., in the context of the calls by indigenous leaders to address the harm in nature connection programming. At the same time, NCN has continued to expand to include members with other lineages

As part of our History + Lineage Project, the Nature Connection Network Leadership Circle is committed to transparency. We are working to gathering information, fill in, and share an ongoing timeline of our history with our members and the public. Please stay tuned as this project progresses.
If you hold parts of this history and want to share with us, please email Leadership@natureconnection.network!