Welcome to the Team: Ciera Wilbur
Please Join Us As We Welcome OGFN’S Newest Team Member, Southeast Regional Manager, Ciera Wilbur!
As the new Southeast Regional Manager, Ciera oversees growing, enhancing, and connecting the Old-Growth Forest Network in the following states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Keep reading to learn more about our newest Regional Manager!
What is your background as it relates to old-growth forest preservation?
My background in environmental science and management prepared me for the intersection of people and natural places that the Old-Growth Forest Network is built on. My education and my passion taught me to see the world as interconnected and how the decisions we make to extract or protect areas have consequences that span beyond our lifetimes. The decisions we make affect our futures as well as the futures of our nonhuman neighbors. Completing my undergraduate degree in the Coastal Redwoods showed me how successful conservation creates a home not only for wildlife and rare plant species but also a home for the heart of humanity. Old-growth forests are necessary for ecosystem services like water protection and biodiversity but also essential for us, to connect with a way of being and living that modern society has deemed unimportant.
What is your favorite forest and why?
My favorite forest is the redwood forest along the Pacific coastline in Trinidad, CA at Secret Beach. It is a place I always return to mentally, remembering the fog hanging low as I followed the path among gnarled roots down to the beach. As the fog cleared, the dappled sunlight highlighted the lily of the valley, ferns, and salal berries growing beneath. It is a magical place, and like many beautiful places, a clear reminder that the natural world has a right to exist and we must protect it. If we do so hopefully another child will experience that magic and inspire them to live in a way that respects this planet the way it did for me.
What inspired you to join the OGFN team?
My mission to inspire environmental stewardship and global kinship found a home in preserving old-growth forests with OGFN. I was inspired by the work being done by OGFN connecting people with the many important attributes of these forests and how their preservation directly impacts our lives. The ecological community dynamics seen in old-growth forests are mirrors of the importance of diversity and complexity in our human communities. I am happy to be part of a mission to build relationships between people and our forests.
What has been the most rewarding thing so far working for OGFN?
So far, what I have enjoyed the most starting my journey with OGFN is exploring the stories of currently preserved OGFN Network forests. Reading their history and management plans, and seeing the diverse audiences that are passionate about these dedications shows the impact of our mission and inspires me to continue the work throughout the Southeast.
Why do you think old-growth forests should be protected in perpetuity?
Old-growth forests are another example of "nature knows best", the complex structure of these mature ecosystems provides us with examples of peak succession in different forests which can help us create restoration goals for other forests. They also provide examples of how communities of diversity and complexity can create stability and health, which we could use to highlight maturity in our human communities. Old-growth forests provide natural sanctuaries, places where holiness feels inextricable from life itself. That spiritual connection, the divinity we can find within a forest is reason enough to protect them for all of existence, for our own mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being as well as those of future generations.
