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Hello! My name is Francesca and I am the Founder of Rewild New Jersey Community Cooperative. Welcome to Rewild New Jersey! I am so excited to finally be sharing the wonderful world of rewilding with all of the citizens of the Garden State.

I am a lifelong New Jersey native! I am originally from North Jersey and I now live in South Jersey. I am a dual citizen! I am a part of the lands and communities of New Jersey, I understand it, and so it is my stage for contributing positivity to the world. New Jersey is the perfect place for rewilding because its land and people are most at risk for losing the spirit that makes it wild. There is no one better to Rewild New Jersey than the people of New Jersey. I seek to connect with people who understand the duality of wanting for a wilder, more authentic way of life while facing the modern entanglements that we experience every day.

I am a Professor at Rowan University teaching in the Department of Geography, Planning, & Sustainability. Starting in 2022, I became a PhD Candidate of Sustainability Education at Prescott College. Both my teaching and PhD coursework has led me to study community rewilding and develop RNJCC.

I consider myself to be a Geographer, Educator, and Community Leader. I spend my life connecting with people. I am a unifier and reformist- bridging the gap between different communities and working to create new thinking. I believe that the systems that we live in are foundationally good, however, we need to continually transform, adapt, and take responsibility for our future.

My rewilding journey has taken me all over New Jersey, throughout the United States, and even abroad! The rewilding world is so hopeful and bursting with new possibilities. During these complicated and often dark times, the global community of rewilders has not only inspired me but matched my energy and my ideals.

I am a lifelong outdoor woman! I believe in barefoot walking, sunbathing, and swimming in every water body possible. I do have experience with gardening for natives, solo camping, hiking, backpacking, foraging, and traveling but I am truly only at the beginnings of my rewilding journey. I, like many of you, are acting to rewild my life because I crave sovereignty and I wish to be free of the control persistent int he modern world. Over the past three years, rewilding has helped me to live as my most authentic self. Rewilding is a process and one that I have certainly not completed.

Rewilding is a commentary on our society. It is sociological, not just ecological. It is not a call to destroy what we have built, it is a call to remove what is not working for us and enhance what is. Rewilding is not a fad, a cause, a greenwashing ploy, another band aid on environmental problems-it is the transformation of our society in real time. Rewilding is slowly being moved from its niche social space into mainstream culture as it is the only true vision for the future. 

I have built this vision, this website, this organization with the help of many people who have supported me allow the way. I believe that there is so much more possible for our State, our Nation, and our World. I look forward to what Rewild NJ will bring to my life and the lives of others. Let’s bring the rewilding revolution to New Jersey!