Stephen Sylvan Willig is a lover of nature with over 15 years of professional experience in outdoor education with youth of all ages. He genuinely enjoys being with young people and is committed to helping them touch the Earth. He believes the best education is experiential, and that children’s experiences in nature should be, above all, fun.

experience
Sylvan has worked for both governmental and private parks and preserves as an interpretive naturalist, beginning in 1989. He has expert knowledge in the forest ecosystem of the eastern U.S. and can identify most of our forest tree species at a glance from a distance. He has studied extensively and taught in most fields of the earth sciences and woodslore. After having served in numerous outdoor educational facilities, he now teaches through his own educational service. In winter he also teaches skiing to children through Vail, Colorado’s ski school.

certifications
Sylvan graduated magne cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, with minors in education and forest recreation. He enjoyed developing independent studies programs with his professors, who rewarded him with an undergraduate teaching fellowship. His professional certifications include Wilderness First Aid, the Project Wild and Project Aquatic educational curricula, as a monitor for Virginia Save Our Streams, and as a Stress Management Therapist. He regularly attends professional seminars for educators and naturalists, yet his most profound learning has been self-taught, in the field with his field guides, or on the road traveling from one mountain range to next. He is an herbalist who gathers and processes most of his own medicines, and a lifelong learner who loves to explore the woods for the thrill of identifying an insect, mushroom, or wildflower for the first time.

activism
Sylvan is active in the men’s movement, and has a heartfelt calling to assist boys in the process of becoming healthy, mature men. He has led or assisted with the boys’ programs at the large annual Buffalo Gap Men’s Gathering for ten years. He served on the steering committee of the Sacred Run in 1995 – 96 with Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement. He has also been a leader in his community by co-founding the Dae Mun Zen Community of Cincinnati, which has now been serving that area for over a decade; by developing and leading various programs at the Yogaville programs center in Virginia; and by working in organizations devoted to environmental and social transformation.

etcetera
Sylvan particularly enjoys camping, and playing guitar and singing around a campfire.
He is a storyteller who understands that the old tales have much to teach, and a poet/bard who will sing for you the entirety of Robert Service’s “The Call of the Wild”. He is a reverse migratory mammal who often winters in Colorado’s high country. There he might be found descending ski slopes at high speeds with a mad grin, or huffing with snowshoes in waist deep powder.

(References furnished upon request)