by Nick Neely
Harvard Review Online: “Slow Flame” (2014)
Thanks also to Ander Monson and New Michigan Press for publishing “Chiton,” “Discovering Anna,” “A Guide to Coyote Management,” “Slow Flame,” and one other essay as the chapbook Chiton, and Other Creatures (2015), a handsome antecedent to this volume.
I’ve been blessed with many wonderful teachers over the years. Thanks in particular to: Catherine Imbriglio, Barton St. Armand, and Thalia Field at Brown University; Scott Slovic, Michael P. Branch, Cheryll Glotfelty, and Christopher Coake at the unique Literature and Environment Program at the University of Nevada, Reno; Louise DeSalvo, Kathryn Harrison, and Alexandra Styron at Hunter College. Six of these essays had their start at the Columbia University Writing Program, and I owe a debt to its nonfiction faculty. Special thanks to Amy Benson, Stephen O’Connor, Phillip Lopate, Patricia O’Toole, and James Richardson, who provided insightful feedback on earlier versions of these wanderings. And to Emily Nemens at The Southern Review for her attention to “Discovering Anna.”
Heartfelt thanks to my many encouraging friends, including Rainer Lee and Wei Tchou, my comrades at Hunter and loyal readers. I am grateful also to the editors at High Country News for inducting me into their journalism boot camp after my stint above the Rogue River. Paonia is where the ideas for “The Afterlife” and “The Carcass Toss” were first hatched.
Thanks to the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians for hosting me at their moving powwow; to David Pease at the Cole Rivers Hatchery for fielding my questions and giving me a tour; to Chuck Fustish for having me along for the toss; and to Bob, Jason, and Ray for handing me the regulator. Thanks also to Christopher Clark for lending his photo of a diving Anna’s; to Kay Atwood, the author of Illahe: The Story of the Settlement of the Rogue Canyon; and to all the researchers and writers whose work I borrowed from to produce this collection.
Great thanks to the John Burroughs Association for recognizing “The Book of Agate” with the 2015 John Burroughs Nature Essay Award. Thanks as well to the UC Berkeley-11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship, which helped me write “The Carcass Toss”; and to the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, where I finished “The Afterlife” with a view to the ocean from the Middlebrook Studios. And my deep thanks to the PEN Northwest Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency and the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology for long-term residencies and their unbelievable landscapes. The Dutch Henry Homestead introduced me to southern Oregon. Three of these pieces later came to life at the Sitka Center below magical Cascade Head. Bradley, Frank, and Jane Boyden have made an immense contribution to the arts of the Pacific Northwest, and their creativity and generosity are much appreciated.
Thanks in addition to John Daniel for selecting me for the Boyden Residency. He has set a high bar—the gold standard—for writing about the Homestead. He also put me in touch with Jack Shoemaker, and in turn my thanks goes to Jack and the staff at Counterpoint for believing in this book and making it a beautiful, layered reality.
Mountains of thanks to my supportive extended family, including my late grandparents Betty, Bob, Ralph, and Virginia, and my inspiring siblings, Lucy and Simon, who are fellow outdoor enthusiasts.
Much of this book belongs to my wife and most eager reader, Sarah, as I hope these essays make clear.
Finally, thanks to my parents, Holly and Kirk. Since I was small, they’ve nurtured my love for specimens and creatures with trips into the backyard and to far-flung places. More recently these specimens and creatures have included essays. Their generosity and intelligence have meant the glorious world.