ZAK BAKER

Zak Baker is the visionary behind Bushlore Press, a publishing company deeply rooted in our connection to the Earth. Who’s mission is to preserve the wisdom of our ancestors and nurture the untamed essence within us all. Zak wears many hats, including author, naturalist, and instructor, and he serves as a traditionalist and conduit for Earth-based wisdom teachings. With over a quarter-century of experience guiding individuals in their journey with the land, he has cultivated a profound and distinctive approach to reuniting humanity with our planet. This approach weaves together ancestral skills and Earth-centered practices passed down through generations of indigenous elders.

For more than 25 years, Zak has shared his expertise as an outdoor survival and ancestral skills instructor. His academic background in anthropology, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, conservation ecology, and natural medicine enriches his teachings. During his tenure as the lead instructor and manager of Paleo-Logic Outdoor Survival School (Befoundalive.com) for over 15 years, he had the privilege of instructing and presenting to diverse groups, including the Sierra Club, the State of Utah, the USDA, hunter education, and countless individual students.

Zak's journey has led him to sit in ceremony and receive traditional wisdom from Lakota, Dakota, Cree, Dine', Mapuche, Nde’, Cherokee elders, and ancestral Ojibwe medicine practitioners for several decades. He holds certifications as a Master Herbalist, Wilderness First Responder, and Wilderness Quest facilitator.

Zak's heart beats with passions for ethnobotany, Earth-based spirituality and ceremony, hunter-gatherer lifeways, herbal medicine, and ancestral skills. He and his family reside in the shadow of the majestic Rocky Mountains of Utah, where they are deeply connected to the land and its teachings.

“Zak Baker is a phenomenal educator with a wealth of experience on the healing capacity of Nature and ceremony. He is one of the few people I have met that is uniquely qualified to guide people through their own personal and emotional growth by learning and applying Ancestral Skills and Nature Connection. I’ve spent years teaching these things to people in addiction recovery and seen their powerful impacts firsthand, and no one is better equipped to guide others on their road of recovery through these Ancestral Teachings than Zak Baker.”

— Oscar C. Pérez PhD, Tending the Fires