The 25 Best Naturalist Quotes from our 5 Favorite Naturalists

Here at Winding Waters River Expeditions , we’re constantly inspired by the wisdom of naturalists from yesteryear. On all of our trips through the Pacific Northwest’s finest rivers, we develop an almost spiritual relationship with the natural world around us. Preeminent naturalists spoke to this relationship and inspire outdoor enthusiasts to this day.

In this post, we’ll talk about some of our favorite naturalists and the best naturalist quotes that encapsulate their wild spirits.

Perhaps, the United States’s most influential naturalist-explorer, John Muir is known for his explorations through California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. The Scotsman wrote about his experiences and conviction to conservation in his writings focusing on the appreciation and protection of the natural world.

Known as “The Father of National Parks,” Muir’s writing and advocacy has helped protect countless natural areas in the United States. Some notable parks he directly helped protect through his writings include:

Often called “John of the Mountains,” his spirit lives on throughout the country in public wild spaces to this day.

Is there any naturalist who blended the natural world with the American spirit quite like Henry David Thoreau?

Known for his seminal work, Walden Pond , and his deeply influential essay Civil Disobedience , Thoreau truly embodied the Naturalist spirit. The former detailed his 2 years living on a remote pond in Concord, MA, and the latter detailing his philosophy that government shouldn’t force you to make moral compromises.

Disobedience was written shortly after coming back from Walden Pond, and was a direct response to both slavery and imperialism shown in the Mexican American war.

This combination of works show us how a life guided by the natural, free world is something more than just a recreational pursuit, but one guided by a philosophy of respect and connection with the wild.

James John Audubon is one of the premier American ornithologists. Audubon identified 25 new species of birds and completed the masterwork, The Birds of America.

The volume contains 435 true-to-life sized watercolors of birds from across the country engraved on plates. In completing the book, Audubon traveled the country with nothing but his gun, art materials, and his assistant to discover and capture the electric energy of the nation’s birds.

While he did not found the organization, the Audubon Society is committed to continuing his legacy through the protection of birds and their habitats.

To those who love the modern conservationist spirit of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt needs no introduction. As president, Roosevelt enacted a series of conservation measures, including:

All in all, Teddy placed 230,000,000 acres under public protection, most of which was done under executive order.

This conservation-minded approach to land management irked many members of his own party from western states, including Oregon’s own Senator Charles Futon. Eventually, Congress limited Roosevelt’s ability to set aside land through executive order, but not before he established 21 forest reserves immediately before the restrictions went into place.

The inaugural chief of the National Forest service and the 28th Governor of Pennsylvania, Pinchot was in Teddy Roosevelt’s conservation circle and an important figure in the era’s conservation movement.

As the leader of the National Forest Service, Pinchot was the de-facto leader of much of the Western United States federally-owned land. Under his leadership, the Forest Service established a more conservation-minded approach to land management. He also established better practices to forest management and was a large proponent of what he called conservation ethic, which called for scientific methods in forestry management.

At Winding Waters River Expeditions, we lead river journeys down some of the most wild and scenic rivers in the entire country, The Salmon River , The Snake River , and the Grande Ronde River. Many of our trips will guide you through multiple days in remote sections of wilderness where you can truly get away from it all.

Read about our rafting and fly fishing trips that will help you explore not only our beautiful rivers, but your own naturalist spirit. Contact us to learn more about how to get more in touch with the wilderness.

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