Conservationist of the Year on Rivers, Forests & a Life That Mattered with Julie Norman Episode 40 | Go Wildly Podcast Julie Norman left a career in tech for whitewater, then left whitewater for a 15-year fight to save old growth forests across Southwest Oregon. Julie grew up in Texas, earned a Master's in Computer Science and Educational Psychology from the University of Texas, and at 24 walked away from a systems programmer job at IBM to guide whitewater across California, Oregon, and Idaho. At 35 she became President of Headwaters, a Rogue Valley nonprofit fighting old growth overcutting. In 1993 she spoke at President Clinton's Forest Conference, work that contributed to court victories cutting logging on westside public forests by 80 percent. Oregon Wild named her Conservationist of the Year. The Wilderness Society called her an Environmental Hero. Today she's retired, which mostly means nonprofit work, ukulele, and defending democracy. We talk about how long Julie and Emily have known each other, getting polio at 4 and relearning how to walk, meeting boating at 11, Girl Scouts and camping, leaving corporate tech for river guiding after a Grand Canyon trip, ARTA river trips and Vallecito, the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and American Rivers, meeting the Rogue River for the first time, Earth First! and living riverside, the history of Galice and the Almeda Mine, early guiding as a woman across Oregon, California, and Idaho, the impacts of living outside, Siskiyou National Forest clear cuts and activism, the value of mentors, the Northwest Forest Plan, Martha Stewart and the Siskiyou Wild Rivers special, her meditation journey and meeting Vipassana, the effects of aging, and her belief that "I don't remember the sad and difficult times hardly at all." Linksjuliekaynorman.comagnesbakerpilgrim.org/preserving-her-legacy/new-projects Active Listener Offers- Kula Cloth — Shop through our link to support the show: kulacloth.com/?avad=436689_e4cf2ef3d- SOMA — 2-Week Free Trial + 6-month membership: southernoregonmartialarts.com- ROW Adventures — Code GOWILDLY, $100 off any multi-day trip 2026-2027: rowadventures.com/multi-day-rafting-trips- Lean In Breathwork — Code GOWILDLY, 20% off sauna sessions: calvinlivingston.com Follow Go WildlyYouTube: youtube.com/@gowildlypodcastSpotify: tinyurl.com/spotifygowildlypodcastInstagram: @gowildlypodcastWebsite: gowildlypodcast.com Hosted & Produced by Emily Berlant & Heather White / Go Wildly PodcastTheme Music: "Rainmaker" by Jared Masters — used with permission KeywordsGo Wildly Podcast, Go Wildly, Southern Oregon podcast, outdoor podcast, Emily Berlant, Heather White, Julie Norman, Headwaters Rogue Valley, old growth forest, forest conservation, Northwest Forest Plan, Clinton Forest Conference, Conservationist of the Year, Oregon Wild, Wilderness Society, Siskiyou National Forest, Siskiyou Wild Rivers, whitewater guide, ARTA river trips, Stanislaus River, Tuolumne River, American River, Rogue River, Galice Oregon, Almeda Mine, Earth First, women river guides, polio survivor, forest activism, public lands Oregon, environmental hero, Martha Stewart Siskiyou, Vipassana meditation, aging and reflection, Sundance neighborhood, place-based podcast, conservation podcast, Kula Cloth
