Destiny LaBossiere | Canton, GA

Destiny LaBossiere is a steward of Cumberland Island.

Why does wilderness matter to you?

Wilderness matters to me because we come from nature. We are derived from her, sustained by her, and ultimately, we return to her. She provides the air in our lungs, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the ground beneath our feet. I believe that gives us an inherent responsibility to protect her. Always.

A tree does not need to be useful to deserve to stand. A river does not need to generate profit to deserve to run freely. Wilderness has value simply because it is alive.

We forget how temporary our constructed world is. Left untouched, roots split concrete, vines climb walls, and forests reclaim roads. Everything eventually returns to wilderness. And so do we.

I believe there is a wilderness within us, too, something instinctive and untamed beneath all the expectations society places upon us. I see life as a return to that wilderness: a slow undoing, a remembering.

Wilderness is our origin, our responsibility, and ultimately, our home.

Why does wilderness matter to your community?

Wilderness matters to the community because I believe we are experiencing a real human disconnect. We are increasingly disconnected from nature, one another, and ourselves. We need wild places to connect, reset, recharge, and quiet the noise of a world that rarely asks us to slow down.

Sometimes the only thing better than wilderness is sharing it with someone you love. There is something powerful about taking a friend camping for the first time, showing someone a truly dark night sky, or watching them fall in love with a place they never knew existed. You don’t have to convince someone to protect something once they’ve fallen in love with it.

That’s where community begins. One experience plants a seed. That friend may take someone else outside, protect threatened places, or raise children who fiercely love the natural world.

One person’s love for wilderness becomes another’s. That’s how we close the human gap: one person, one experience, one seed at a time.

Share a story about a special experience you have had in wilderness.

The first time I went to Cumberland Island, I had no idea it would become one of the most sacred places in my life. I had just ended a four-year relationship when my childhood best friend invited me camping. I needed to get outside the box I had been living in, so I said yes.

I’ll never forget the ferry ride. I was heading toward an island I knew nothing about, bursting with freedom. I took the trip. I got myself there.

That night, I stayed on the beach after my friends returned to camp, listening to the waves beneath the brightest night sky I had ever seen. I was truly alone, but I wasn’t lonely. For the first time in my adult life, I was content sitting with myself. Cumberland taught me the difference.

The island became sacred to me, a place that strips away what I no longer need and sends me home lighter. I’ve spent seven years volunteering with Wild Cumberland to protect the place that helped me find myself.

Cumberland changes people. It changed me.

What are your hopes for the future of wilderness?

My hope for the future of wilderness is that we stop asking what we can take from it and start asking what we can protect. I hope we preserve wild places not because they are profitable or useful to us, but because they have an inherent right to exist.

I hope more people find their way back outside, especially those who have never felt that wilderness belonged to them. I want children to grow up knowing dark skies, wild rivers, ancient forests, and animals living freely, not simply reading about what once existed.

Most of all, I hope we remember that protecting wilderness is not separate from protecting ourselves. We depend on the same water, air, soil, and ecosystems we so often treat as expendable.

I hope we leave behind more than photographs and stories of what used to be. I hope we leave places still wild enough for future generations to stand within them, fall in love with them, and feel the same responsibility to protect them.

Wilderness was here before us. My hope is that we are humble enough to ensure it remains after us.