For more than 15 years, Michael Kauffmann has worked to connect people with the distinctive ecology of the Klamath Mountains.
As an educator, author and executive director of the Bigfoot Trail Alliance, Kauffmann believes people must understand their surroundings before they will feel compelled to protect them.
“One of my top-level goals is to connect people to the natural world,” Kauffmann said.
His work began with a fascination with the region’s extraordinary conifer diversity. The Klamath Mountains contain about 5% of the world’s conifer species, according to Kauffmann.
That interest shaped his master’s thesis, led him to establish Backcountry Press and eventually culminated in “The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History,” which he co-edited with Justin Garwood.
For Kauffmann, learning to identify local trees gives people a way to begin reading the broader landscape. His mission, however, has expanded beyond science education and hiking guides.
In 2020, Kauffmann helped launch the Bigfoot Trail Youth Stewardship Project. That work has since grown to include the Klamath Mountains Workforce Training Network, a regional partnership that introduces people ages 15 to 24 to careers in conservation and ecological restoration.
The paid program offers hands-on field workshops, career mentorship and training in areas such as digital mapping, wilderness first aid and watershed restoration.
Kauffmann said the network can connect public lands in need of restoration with young people seeking meaningful work. Its organizers hope those opportunities will allow participants to build careers without leaving their home communities.
“If we want the next generation to care for these places, we have to give them opportunities like this to know what those opportunities might be in the future and to work in those opportunities,” Kauffmann said. “Then they can see a future for themselves in these landscapes.”
Ultimately, Kauffmann hopes that work will strengthen the relationship between local communities and the landscapes around them.
“I really want the love to come out — love for each other, love for place and love for a future in the Klamath Mountains,” Kauffmann said.
Guest
- Michael Kauffmann, executive director, Bigfoot Trail Alliance
