Beyond a byline.
My writing is an extension of myself, my voice, my heart. Whether in print or online, my words represent an enthusiasm for life beyond a byline.
A Day in the Life: Scientists & Collaborators Shaping a Sustainable Tomorrow
Summer of 2023, I had the honor of writing a script and producing a video that introduces audiences to a science team that provides crucial data and insight for The Nature Conservancy in Washington. Their leadership guides conservation and climate resilience work within Washington and beyond.
I handled their story with an emphasis on humanity. This pushed the envelope for messaging around science, which in a Western/post-colonial context, values data over experiential ways of knowing. I was grateful to have collaborators who trusted my vision and allowed my leadership.
In the end, the script features the scientists’ early mornings, field-based research, commutes to work, community collaborations and nods to their external roles within kinship and societal structures. Ultimately, the video captures this team’s unwavering dedication to ensuring future generations thrive on a healthy planet.
Art Director and Producer: Erica Sloniker, The Nature Conservancy
Script Writer and Producer: Leah Palmer, The Nature Conservancy
Director of Photography and Editor: Jenny Ting
Producer and Consulting Editor: Michele Gomes
Camera Operator and Drone Pilot: Jeremiah Kaynor
Sound Mix: Cheryl Ottenritter and Jeremy Guyre
Graphic imagery (right): Erica Sloniker, The Nature Conservancy
Favorite lines:
From script: “Cut to Emily walking up her driveway, unlocking her door. Her kids are happy to see her. She sets the backpack down on the kitchen counter, fishing out a memento for the kids. She hands them a feather from Port Susan Bay. Their eyes light up. We hear giggles and footsteps running to take the object to their collections. Overlay text: Everyday continuation.”
“Everyday curiosity. Everyday conclusion. Everyday collaboration. Everyday climate care. Everyday community. Everyday continuation.”
“Every day, Nature Conservancy scientists and collaborators provide crucial knowledge for a future where people, lands, and waters thrive in balance.”
Rematriating Buffalo in Washington State
On October 27, 2023, 68 bison were rematriated from TNC’s Niabrara Preserve in Nebraska to the Kalispel Tribe of Indians. This is part of the North American Team’s partnership with Intertribal Buffalo Council (ITBC), which for more than 30 years has worked to restore spiritual and cultural relationships between Tribal Nations and buffalo. This honors the buffalo’s conservation merit as a keystone species while also reconnecting tribal nations to a relative with spiritual and cultural significance.
The new Kalispel buffalo are the first from this partnership to be relocated to Washington state, making this transfer a historic event I had the honor to witness and write about in a blog published to washingtonnature.org.
Photo by Leah Palmer
Favorite prose:
“Derrick Bluff is the third generation of his family to herd Buffalo. The Kalispel buffalo program was founded by his grandfather. Today, the program employs roughly a dozen men to mend fences, tag and inspect Buffalo, and on this night, they were all gathered for the large task of adding the relocated herd to their fields. The good-humored group of ranchers were equipped with ATVs and courage, and they were joined by a small group of aunties, cousins, wives and friends gathered around a fire to keep warm as they witnessed. They laughed and cheered as the stubborn buffalo refused to exit the trailers without a fight.”
Dr. Tiara Moore Redefines Belonging in Science
Published in March 2023 on wanature.org, this feature piece explores one woman’s intersectionality as a Black marine scientist navigating predominantly white-led institutions. It tells of her brave journey to create safe and supportive spaces for Black Marine scientists—a small yet critical percentage of water-keepers.
Illustration by Erica Simek Sloniker, TNC Visual Content Specialist
Favorite prose:
“Perhaps most importantly, Dr. Moore is actively cultivating interest in marine science among Black students, who may not already imagine themselves in the field. In some ways, she echoes the whispers she once heard in the ocean, welcoming her to swim, to explore, to listen, to observe, to belong. For descendants of enslaved Africans in the Americas, this is a powerful calling back to water. This is a powerful undoing after centuries of experiencing water as trauma sites, compounded by recent Jim Crow, laws that once deterred Black people from public swimming pools. A 2008 NPR article reported over 50% of African Americans cannot swim. Dr. Moore believes there’s an inherent fear of water among the Black community. She reflects, “you know, I remember I was talking to my grandma about why she didn't swim. And she said, ‘Oh, yeah. White people could just throw acid into pools’ back in her day.”
Dr. Moore’s healing through trauma naturally created inroads for more Black people to return to an ocean that welcomes all of us.”
Wildflowers Blanket Moses Coulee and Beezley Hills This Spring
Published May 2023, this piece draws the reader to experience the beauty of two preserves owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy in Washington. It was important for me to provide a multi-sensory experience by capturing the sights and sounds of Beezley Hills on video.
Photos and Video by Leah Palmer
Favorite prose:
“Dancing in the coulees, hills and valleys of Eastern Washington are carpets of color, as wildflowers burst through basalt rock. Among this sits two preserves stewarded by The Nature Conservancy of Washington—Moses Coulee and Beezley Hills—where (right now!) you can view constellations of violet, blue, pink, yellow and white blooms as they enhance the sage brush backdrop. It’s enough to either take your breath away or cause you to breath deeper, slower than before. And if you pay close attention, every other breath is filled with the aroma of sage carried on the breeze. ”
BIPCO Outdoors: Earth Day on Yellow Island
Published in May 2023, this Earth Day blog shares highlights from an adventure to The Nature Conservancy’s Yellow Island Preserve in the San Juans of Washington state. The day-trip was designed for BIPOC explorers to access lands and participate in conservation projects, as these groups have been historically and systemically disenfranchised pristine nature experiences.
Photo by Alma Williams, Outdoor Afro Coach
Favorite prose:
“These Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) explorers were honored to be present—perhaps because people of color are largely underrepresented in national parks, forests, and wildlife preserves. According to The National Health Foundation, white people make up 70 percent of all visitors to public lands. Some believe this is because BIPOC do not enjoy the outdoors, which is an unfortunate stereotype. Visitor, Quaniqua Williams said, ‘I held the assumption that Black folks do not spend much time outside. That assumption was debunked. Volunteering on Yellow Island began to shift my perspective about being outside.’”
Work in the Clearwater Forest Protects Salmon
As writer/editor at The Nature Conservancy in Washington, I was sent on assignment to visit a conservation forester in the Clearwater Forest. The goal was to gather information about recent road decommissioning efforts and its impact on salmon habitat restoration. Yet, clever interview questioning and keen sensitivity to the humanity beneath the forester’s work, resulted in a feature piece about a community grappling with the economic impacts of a changing climate.
This published feature also includes a short video of the work taking place on the ground, drawing readers into a world they may never have access to witness.
Photo by Leah Palmer
Favorite prose:
“Settled along the Clearwater River are generations of logging families who experience the forest as integral to their identity. So, when Justin began decommissioning a once legendary logging road, he was met with opposition from some community members. “If you just bring idealism here, you’re going to get that beat out of you. And once that’s gone, this is a tough place to live,” he says. But, he maintains, “someone has to speak for the land. Within the context of political narratives and ideologies, I was concerned about this road and it falling into the river.”
Talon Show
Published in the Sep/Oct 2022 issue of Oklahoma Today, I was assigned “Talon Show” for a section called," “Off the Map,” where readers are given clues about a tourism site in Oklahoma but are not given its identifiers. Readers gather information from the feature and send their guesses to the editors. My editor called “Talon Show” one of his favorite features to date.
Favorite prose:
“Bird handlers join a long history of reciprocity with eagles, who are believed to carry prayers to heaven, making them among the only creatures to see the Creator’s face."
“When perched on a handler’s glove, the majestic eagle is possibly nature’s best arm candy...”