Susan J. Tweit

Susan J. Tweit is a botanist who began her career studying wildfires, grizzly bear habitat and sagebrush communities before realizing her calling was to tell the stories behind the data. She has written twelve books about the relationships between humans and nature, including the memoir Walking Nature Home (University of Texas Press), which she worked on at Mesa Refuge. Susan’s work has won awards including the Colorado Book Award, the EDDIE for magazine writing, and ForeWord’s Book of the Year. Her stories and essays have appeared in magazines and newspapers ranging from Audubon and Popular Mechanics to High Country News and the Los Angeles Times. Her mission in life is healing and restoring this extraordinary living planet and we who share it—or, in the words of a fan, “leaving beauty behind in whatever you touch.” Tweit is a columnist for Rocky Mountain Gardening magazine and Houzz.com, and spends her free time rescuing neglected houses and digging invasive weeds in Yellowstone National Park.

Susan is also a Mesa Refuge Legacy Circle donor—naming the Mesa Refuge in her will. “Because Mesa Refuge offered me an opportunity to not only deepen my writing but to help me understand why and how I bring what I bring to the world, I chose to name it as one of five organizations in my estate plan,” she said. “After being widowed relatively young, I realized how important it is to honor what you believe in your financial legacy. The five organizations I choose, including the Mesa Refuge, really speak to my heart,” she said.

Photo: Robert Muller, Santa Fe