About the Course
Combining classroom study, exploratory forest walks, and guided observation exercises, this class invites participants to see and experience eastern forests in fresh ways. We’ll dive into some of the most important scientific frameworks for understanding what makes a forest a forest, while also exploring poetic and literary insights that approach similar questions from a different angle. Most importantly, we’ll engage all of our senses on both guided and unguided walks in local woodland ecosystems, practicing intentional curiosity about the patterns and relationships that make the forest sing.
With the exception of our expedition programs, most of our courses are hosted within a 30 mile radius of Charlottesville, VA. The diverse nature of our programs is best served by a constellation of sites that includes both public and private land. To protect the safety and privacy of our host site partners as well as the safety of our participants, we do not disclose the addresses or coordinates of our sites online. Upon registering for a course — or no later than 2 weeks prior to its start date — all participants will receive details and directions to the public, pre-course meetup location, from which we will caravan to the host site.
Instructor(s)
As a naturalist, wilderness guide, farmer, and grassroots educator, Chris Grataski has spent nearly two decades working at the intersection of social and ecological issues. Rooted in a reverence for the mystery and complexity of the living earth, and with an enduring commitment to justice and decolonial futures, his work revolves around sowing seeds for a world beyond crisis and collapse. As a guide and educator, and as the founding director of SRI, he is passionate about weaving connections between ecology and embodied practice that help folks discover their innate kinship with the wild. He and his 12-year old son live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where they can often be found looking for animal tracks, swimming in local rivers, or hanging out at the skatepark.
Chris Grataski
