Member Spotlight: President Larry Root on finding his way back to his roots

Larry Root is our Balcones Canyonlands Chapter President.  We wanted to take the time to spotlight Larry and we asked him what inspired him to become a Master Naturalist.

“I have been in the Austin area all of my life.  My parents grew up in east Texas so we went there visiting my grandparents quite a bit.  East Texas gave me a different perspective on the landscape, the flora, the fauna, and the people.  Folks in east Texas seemed to believe that all snakes needed to killed.  My herpetology studies show me otherwise.  I was not able to convince any east Texas folks of this that I know of. The deer in east Texas had just about been hunted to extinction with the advent of the east Texas oil field.  Bull frogs were still plentiful though as were rabbits and squirrels.  This is where I learned to hunt, clean and cook wild game.

Austin at the time was the city for me.  Then we moved way out north at the end of Lamar and Parmer Ln.   We built  on little walnut creek, so my stomping grounds were the creek and the back of the old Coxville zoo.  I believe that there is a park out there now, but at the time that I lived there it was where we hiked and camped.  I hunted dove and quail in the fields and caught many rattlesnakes which to my mothers dismay were milked and displayed to the other kids in the neighborhood.  In my younger days I caught may animals and kept them in my room (also to my mothers dismay).  My mother was dismayed a lot.

Then I went to college in Georgetown, studied theater and forgot about my life in the wild, because that was just normal and I wanted to do something different.  I let college be a total waste of time and money.  The things that I had done all of my life for fun I couldn’t imagine being a job.  How could a job be so easy?
I got married and came to the realization that I had to make money so I followed my grandfathers footsteps and entered the oil-field.  I worked my way to driller, and became proficient on every type of heavy equipment imaginable.  After a few years of this I realized this was terrible for the planet and I quit.

I went to work making high end jewelry for 20 some odd years and finalized that all of this work was wreaking havoc on my body and soul, and that I need to get back to what I enjoyed whether it made money or not.  I started with the wildflower school of botanical medicine, then NPSOT, and the the master naturalist program, then hike guide.  Wow this was just what I enjoyed doing.  I’m still a little worried about making some money, but I’ve decided that at this point I need to follow my passion before I die.  Kind of a long range bucket list kind of thing.” — Larry Root, President, Balcones Canyonlands Chapter, Texas Master Naturalist

We love you President Larry!  Stay tuned for more member spotlights.