The Art of Storytelling: A Naturalist’s Perspective

by Madeline Werner ACES Naturalist

Last June, I came to Aspen Center for Environmental Studies with wide eyes, ambitious motives, and a heart ablaze. I was set on making an impression on the influential people that move through this valley. I had visions of preaching the lifestyle shifts I see as imperative in our changing climate. Maybe I could get people fired up about a shift toward smaller–scale agriculture practices. Perhaps I could reveal a thing or two about the severity of the water crisis in the West. I wanted to harness my despair around environmental concerns to inspire change.

Though I feel certain I’ve influenced the public’s experience in valuing the natural world, I was naive about how such a transformation happens. It wasn’t my opinions, facts, or reasoning that moved people— instead, I had to bridge nature’s lessons to the hearts of the people I was interacting with. And the best way to achieve this, I found, was through storytelling.

Naturalists talk to people for hours about the adaptations of an aspen tree or the ecology of a keystone species. We answer questions about wolf reintroduction, edible plants, and local history. All of this is a phenomenal part of the job. However, spewing facts does not leave lasting impressions on the people we interact with. People might not remember the Latin name for yarrow or the elevation of Maroon Peak, but they will remember the passion that links the storyteller to their experiences.

My own stories come from lived experiences. Growing up, I learned how to tap maple trees for syrup with my father. We would set out during the freezing nights and warmer days of March off the shores of Lake Michigan to collect gallons of sap, hauling bucket loads back to our house. We spent hours boiling the sap down into a small potful of concentrated syrup. I remember my dad explaining how the maple trees were creating sugar to