Matt Love fell into his job as the caretaker of the 600-acre Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge, but what he got out of the experience changed his appreciation of Oregon, and his life as a teacher and a writer.
Love, an English and history teacher, happened to be teaching the daughter of Eric Nelson, the former caretaker of the refuge.
“I talked to the refuge manager, because we sort of knew each other,” Love said. “He said, ‘Hey, I have a proposition for you.’ It was just like that—I didn’t have to apply. I didn’t have to do anything.”
After working in Portland, and being unable to achieve conventional writing success, Love moved back to the Oregon coast at 33 years old. What began as a new responsibility evolved into a whole new outlook on life and the way he wrote. His new book, Gimme Refuge, reflects on his unique experience and what he took away from it.
“I write almost exclusively about Oregon,” Love said. “The refuge has taught me a lot about Oregon land and a lot about subjects that were interesting to me.”
Taking on the responsibility of caretaker was a learning experience for Love, one that has affected not only his writing, but his career as a teacher, too.
“When I left, I took all that I learned and threw it into my teaching,” Love said. “All that stuff was all sort of seamless to my understanding of nature. I just brought that light into the classroom.”
Love explains that his students will vouch for the fact that, in his classroom, they’re constantly talking and thinking about our beautiful environment in Oregon. Love’s new approach to teaching largely comes from the new things he has learned.
“The refuge has taught me a lot about Oregon land,” Love said. “I learned a lot about how a watershed functions, where the blackberries that I had been battling came from, and why the Refuge was established—for the geese that are becoming endangered.”
Love’s experience has not only reignited his life as a teacher and a writer, but as an Oregonian.
“It gave me something to fight for,” Love said. “An opportunity to stand up for the degradation of the natural world that I couldn’t see when I was in Portland.”
Love founded Nestucca Spit Press in 2003, which is comprised of literature exclusively for and about Oregon. The company was named after the famous sand spit in Pacific City, where Love often visits with his dogs. The spit is a place of inspiration for Love, and hopes that his new book will inspire his fellow Oregonians.
“I would hope [Oregonians] read the book and see that it’s important to take risks,” Love said, “and try to pursue what you’ve always wanted to do. Here’s a guy that went for it.”
Love describes the suffering he went through emotionally—as he didn’t achieve what he sought out to do as a writer in Portland—and the physical strain of the manual labor he did as the caretaker.
“You don’t read books too often about people that do manual labor,” Love said. “I don’t mean going for a hike, either. It was all new to me.”
Love, who is a PSU alumnus, majored in history and graduated in 1986. Love explains how people at Portland State inspired him. He still maintains his appreciation for one of our own history professors.
“My love of history was born because of professor David Horwitz,” Love said. “I took nine classes from him, or some ridiculous amount, and he was the one that just got me interested in things that later really came home to roost.”