I don’t just teach wilderness skills, I live them.
My passion for working deeply in nature started by picking up a roadkill deer and figuring out how to butcher it and tan the hide into buckskin. Now decades later, I’m hunting and harvesting deer, turkey, and other small game animals with homemade bows and arrows. My passion is to help others find the experiences that allow nature to come alive for them.
Justin Sutera
I meet each person where they are at, connect with them as individuals, and help them learn new skills to develop deep connections with the Earth. When you sign up for youth programs, you’re not just getting an outdoor babysitter. I care deeply about the mission of this school, and go above and beyond in delivering mentoring and teaching to every student I work with. When you sign up for adult programming, you’re connecting to a powerful mentor who brings you into a new world of wild skills and nature-based wisdom with easygoing humility and humor.
Many people teach wilderness skills, but few teach from the depth of direct experience that I am fortunate to have. Everything I teach is what I know from doing. For example, teaching bow making and providing hunting mentorship is based on my active (and successful!) hunting practice with homemade bows and arrows. I have honed my survival skills by putting them to the test, taking many “camping trips” into wilderness areas in Vermont and the Northeast with just a knife. These skills come alive when I use them and share them, and I am truly honored to bring these skills to life for you and your children.
I’ve been an educator for as long as I can remember. I have been formally leading wilderness skills and nature connection mentoring programs for over 16 years. I have an innate talent for connecting with kids and inspiring them to connect more deeply with themselves and the earth. I’ve worked at numerous outdoor education programs over the years, including The Children of the Earth Foundation, the Trailside Nature Museum, and Primitive Pursuits.
Growing up, I was originally inspired by the books of Tom Brown, Jr. When I turned 18, I made it to the Tracker School and found another level of inspiration from Tom’s classes and teachings. I took several additional classes over the years and found mentors that helped me grow along this path. To this day I am deeply grateful for the Tracker School and the teachers who have shaped this course of my life.
I continued my studies at S.U.N.Y College of Environmental Science and Forestry where I earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Conservation Biology. While I appreciate the knowledge gained through this scientific approach, I am even more captivated by the hands-on and experiential aspects of outdoor learning. So while in college, I started the Primitive Pursuits Club, which met weekly teaching primitive living skills and naturalist studies among others in my Environmental Science and Forestry cohort.
After college I worked at Primitive Pursuits in Ithaca, NY, where I crafted several adult intensive programs and led many youth after school, homeschool and summer camp programs. My greatest passion at this time was leading Adult Skills classes like hide tanning, bow making, and basketry, as well as leading Wilderness Skills Instructor Training classes for adults. During this time I continued to push my own abilities in survival, and primitive hunting, trapping, and tracking skills. I also spent a lot of time perfecting black ash basketry techniques and related primitive living and naturalist skills. I also became a student of Wilderness Fusion, where I studied energy-based healing practices for 6 years. This work has helped me become even more effective as an educator and nature connection mentor.
I moved to Elmore Vermont in 2018, where I found new community, family, and a love for the Woods of the Northeast Kingdom. I started Back to the Earth Wilderness Programs soon after, and I’ve been sharing my history, skills, and love for nature with students and adults since then. It’s exciting to work with the same students over multiple years, and witness their growth toward being wilderness skill competent and nature connected human beings. In my free time you’ll find me making black ash baskets, crafting bows and arrows, tanning hides, wandering the woods foraging, and hunting whatever is in season.