Forests as Relational Practice

Rivers surrounded by forests and woodlands offer inspiration for deepening human/more-than-human relationality in these chaotic times of intersectional crisis. When at home in the southwest I spend time walking with the Collie River both in the Westralia Forest near Collie, and at the Collie River mouth in the derbal, now called the Leschenault Estuary, within the Kalgulup Regional Park. To me, relationality is a multispecies collaboration: ‘we, not me’ (Poelina et al., 2023).

The Kalgulup Regional Park is a place of peace, calm and learning; that beckons me in – sometimes with birdsong – and I stroll maybe 250 metres from home to the forest to acknowledge Wardandi Noongar Country and cultural custodians, to walk or sit. As I see it, to learn with woodlands, is to offer communicative presence in Indigenous ways, to listen in an all-sensory experiential/creative way. Here is a poem in response to gestures by kajinak the fantail bird:

Kajinak (in Wooltorton & White, 2024)

Kaya Kajinak, I see you with your kinfolk, watching over the garden we share.
Kajinak, with me on my walk today – observing, watching, overseeing,
Kajinak, always on the move – flitting in front, behind, beside, and above,
Kajinak, bold and brave today, flying away with my heart!
Kajinak, often by my side, just being there, fluttering; darting, sometimes calling,
Kajinak, teacher and leader, will you share with me your purpose?
Kajinak, I miss you today, and search for you in trees,
Kajinak, companion today, giving care, luring my attention to yourself,
Kajinak, alongside today, are you here to teach me response-ability?
Kajinak, how can I be there for you? What do you ask me to do?
Kajinak, I bow to you, and present my gratitude and deep respect.
Kajinak, guiding me – as escort, mentor, personal totem,
Kajinak, kin continuity during my walks, it’s not my imagination I know,
Kajinak, I feel a relational sense.
***
When in the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Valley, I love to arrive near the Willare Bridge and walk or sit with River to learn, to be nurtured, to relax and to sing or create. Relationality, for me, is about kin – making kin, being kin and caring as kin (Knight, Poelina, & Wooltorton, 2024).

These big ideas have integrity within a cooperative, place-based worldview. Within this, Indigenous authors and Indigenous-led collaborations explain the reciprocity of caring for Country which holistically cares for the carer in sentient, responsive, relational ways. To deepen relationality and the sense of interbeing with Country, my practices comprise singing out to the spirits of place, interwoven with listening, singing, walking, and speaking. I regard my local places as family, as home in the sense of love of Country. Australia is storied with aeons of past-presence, always co-becoming with weather, multi-species relations and climate. (Poelina et al., 2022; Wooltorton, Poelina, & Collard, 2021).

References
Knight, K. N. O., Poelina, A., & Wooltorton, S. (2024). Regenerative Learning: Hearing Country and Music for Healing People, Place, and Planet. In A. Penteado, S. P. Chakrabarty, & O. H. Shaikh (Eds.), Traditional Knowledge and Climate Change: An Environmental Impact on Landscape and Communities (pp. 255-266). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-8830-3_11

Poelina, A., Perdrisat, M., Wooltorton, S., & Mulligan, E. L. (2023). Feeling and Hearing Country as Research Method. Environmental Education Research, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2023.2239531

Poelina, A., Wooltorton, S., Blaise, M., Aniere, C. L., Horwitz, P., White, P. J., & Muecke, S. (2022). Regeneration time: ancient wisdom for planetary wellbeing. Australian journal of environmental education, 38(3-4), 397-414. https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2021.34

Wooltorton, S., Poelina, A., & Collard, L. (2021). River relationships: For the love of rivers. River Research and Applications, Special Issue: Voicing Rivers(Early view). https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3854

Wooltorton, S., & White, P. (2024). Towards an Indigenous-Informed Multispecies Collaboratory. Australian journal of environmental education.