“Underground seed banks hold promise for ecological restoration” (High Country News, March 2024)

“The artist and the harpooner” (High Country News, May 2023)

“City Trees” (from “The Madrona Project: The Universe is a Forest,” Empty Bowl, April 2023)

“Purple Prairie” (Oregon Humanities, Winter 2023)

“Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest” 2024 Oregon Book Award winner (Ooligan Press, November 2022)

“Set It Back: Moving Levees to Benefit Rivers, Wildlife and Communities” (The Revelator, June 2022)

“Josephine Woolington is a model of a particular kind of curiosity that is at root a form of love—love for the plants and animals and geography that together make up the place she occupies. ‘Where We Call Home’ is an invitation to pay attention to and become intimate with the world beyond the self. And it is a welcome addition to the literature of the Pacific Northwest.”

—Scott F. Parker, author of “A Way Home: Oregon Essays” and “Being on the Oregon Coast”

“A deep dive into connections with the land and the lifeforms that call the Pacific Northwest home. Fascinating. Sobering. Inspiring.”

—Jane Billinghurst, co-author with Peter Wohlleben of “Forest Walking”

“In a series of beautiful essays on the foraging western bumble bee, the stunning sandhill crane, the long-lived yellow-cedar, and more, ‘Where We Call Home’ takes us on a journey to explore the natural histories of ten native species in the Pacific Northwest. It is a powerful meditation on the past, present, and possible future of this land, its inhabitants, and our own relationship with nature.”

—Lauren E. Oakes, author of “In Search of the Canary Tree”

“This book is about listening to the voices of plants, animals, Indigenous leaders, scientists, and artists to find and nourish something we all need: an enduring sense of place.”

—Scott Freeman, author of “Saving Tarboo Creek: One Family’s Quest to Heal the Land”

“Written within the last couple of years, when many of us were feeling untethered—and reading it now, when we are suspecting we may never return to what we thought we knew, maybe not wanting to, seeking instead better ground— ‘Where We Call Home’ is the reminder we need that nature doesn’t let us down and, importantly, that we are of a place, and that matters. Full of delicate botanical and biological details and human stories trying to make sense of everything from camas to clouds, this collection of journalistic essays both connects and inspires. Whether our family has lived in the Pacific Northwest for generations or we just moved here, Josephine Woolington’s writing gives voice to this land claiming us as one of its creatures, and in that embrace, may we feel a reciprocal protective urge. This place is special, and we are special to be a part of it.”

—Kristin Thiel, co-editor of “Fire & Water: Stories from the Anthropocene”

“Once she realizes that ‘it’s radical to be rooted in a place,’ writer and educator Josephine Woolington embarks on a journey to learn about her home in the Northwest. Focusing on ten native species, she follows her journalist’s curiosity, interweaving natural history with the cultural history she sets out consciously to learn. In her hands, what first looks like a random selection ranging from camas, sandhill cranes, and yellow-cedar to moss, bumble bees, and clouds becomes a window into the stories of the local tribes who’ve long stewarded their kin, the scientists who study them, and others who’ve learned how to pay attention. From an artist who attended to clouds in order to draw them to a whaling chief’s moving account of how a gray whale hunt restored the Makah culture, her stories invite us to become as rooted, attentive, and respectful wherever we call home.”

—Holly J. Hughes, author of “Passings,” a 2017 American Book Award winner

“Josephine Woolington’s first book is part natural history and part human history, offering unique insights that shed light on the threats facing some of the Pacific Northwest’s most iconic species. Its lyrical language and delightful descriptions illuminate scientific and Native American perspectives, providing context for understanding where people fit into the natural world.”

—Todd McLeish, author of “Saving Narragansett Bay” and “Return of the Sea Otter”

“Josephine Woolington leaves no stone unturned in these explorations of iconic Northwest lifeforms. She does not flinch in the face of degradation and future threats, she understands that tribal knowledge plays a crucial role in our larger story, and she offers a path forward based on meticulous attention. We should listen.”

—Jack Nisbet, author of “Sources of the River,” “The Collector,” and “Visible Bones”