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The Chinese proverb says, "It is better to walk a thousand miles than to read a thousand books". I have tried to do both, and am way over the mark on both counts. Travel is the best possible education for a naturalist, so every year I spend at least three months abroad with a backpack heavily laden with books. I am particularly interested in tropical wilderness areas where I can pursue my interests in botany, herpetology, and speleology.
My travels have taken me to many remote locations in the western hemisphere, including locations in the United States, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Guyana, and Brazil. In Asia I have visited remote parts of China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
I am privileged to have been the first outsider to have visited many of these areas. All of my expeditions have been self funded. I prefer to travel alone or with a few close friends, among whom have been headhunters, bandits, shamans, subsistence hunters, artists, and scientists. I always do things the hard way, on foot or by dugout canoe with minimal supplies.
Highlights of these expeditions include the discovery of a previously unknown plateau in Borneo, a five week crossing of the Pakaraima mountains in Guyana, and numerous extraordinary discoveries in Belize such as one of the world’s tallest caverns, two "lost" cities, and numerous other previously undiscovered caves and archeological sites.
These experiences inform my work, and have convinced me of the importance of protecting what few wild areas remain. Toward this end I am active in the conservation movement as a writer and activist. My essays are published locally, and in Wild Earth magazine.
I feel strongly that conservation through private initiative is the only hope for many of the world’s wild places. Toward that end I work with enlightened developers and land owners to formulate land management practices that will foster biodiversity and wilderness values. As an environmental artist, I strive to interpret the freedom and beauty that I have experienced so that others may be inspired to appreciate and protect the natural world.
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