Happy Pride Month, everybody! We're celebrating and kicking it off with an interview with naturalist Treetop. In addition to being a fungus-finding pro and ukelele-playing guru, Treetop is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in nature, and he founded Branching Out Adventures to celebrate queerness in the outdoors.
Follow WOLF School on Instagram and Facebook for our #queerecology series this month and all year long, where we highlight plants and animals that prove that individuals and families come in many forms. Nature loves diversity!
SEQUOIA: How did you fall in love with the outdoors?
TREETOP: When I was a child, we had the privilege to go camping in Yosemite Valley every summer, where I got to explore the magic of the meadows, rivers, and forests. As I grew up, being in that space became a refuge from all the struggles that teenagers go through. From age 14 on, I knew what I wanted to do was to “protect the trees.”
SEQUOIA: How have your experiences in the outdoors shaped your queer identity, and vice versa?
TREETOP: When I was a teenager struggling to figure myself out, nature became my safe haven. Even when I felt like my family or friends didn’t understand me, I always had nature to escape to, to feel like my true self. Having that space was crucial to working out my internal issues so I could confidently come out to my friends and family.
And the more I study nature, the more I have learned that queerness happens all the time in nature. So when people say that queerness “isn’t natural,” that just is not accurate. From banana slugs that have both eggs and sperm, to acorn woodpeckers where multiple females will raise their chicks together, there are so many examples where diversity is the norm in nature.
I have seen students come out at age 10 with support of their friends which is truly inspiring, but I have also seen homophobic slurs at camp which shows that this issue is still present, so the more we make camp inclusive the better.
“The more I study nature, the more I have learned that queerness happens all the time in nature.”
SEQUOIA: How did the idea for Branching Out Adventures begin, and how are you turning it from an idea to reality?
TREETOP: Last September, I had the privilege to go to the LGBTQ Outdoor Summit. While I was there, I was overwhelmed by the community of LGBTQ+ folks who also loved the outdoors from around the country. I wanted to help bring similar community together on a more local level which led me to want to start leading queer hikes. My hope with Branching Out Adventures is to eventually lead all sorts of events for us to have relationships with nature through the lens of queerness and social justice.
SEQUOIA: We talk often at WOLF School about being a community for everyone, and lowering the barriers that many youth face to having experiences in nature. For the LGBTQ+ community, what are some of those barriers?
TREETOP: People of color (POC), LGBTQ+ folks, women, and most groups that are not white men have long been kept from the outdoors. Many of these groups have faced violence and prejudice in outdoor spaces throughout history, which obviously makes people feel unwelcome. At first there were legal barriers, but now there are different barriers such as money, gear, and transportation that systematically keep these groups out. But this is why I am proud to work for WOLF and Branching Out Adventures, which are opening up this conversation and work to make the outdoors more accessible for everyone.
SEQUOIA: How have you stayed connected to nature during this pandemic? What advice do you have for others, especially LGBTQ+ youth, to connect with nature?
TREETOP: I have been getting to know the bits of nature on my block such as lizards and flowers that I can find while going for a walk. I advise folks to pay extra attention to the parts of nature we usually ignore (trees and flowers along the street, birds on the wires, etc). You can witness a whole new world of birds, bugs, and more to escape into when the real world is tough right now.