Featured Member

Cathy Walsh

It was in July 2016 when Cathy and her husband, Bob Rymer, moved to Asheville from Charleston, SC where she had worked as a clinical psychologist for the past 28 years. One month after arriving in Asheville she began her studies with the Blue Ridge Naturalist Certificate Program at the North Carolina Arboretum.  Having visited, camped, bird watched and weaved up in Western North Carolina for over 20 years while living in Virginia (graduate school at University of Virginia) and South Carolina she had learned about the Naturalist program from a fellow birder on a Carolina Bird Club walk years before. When she and Bob left Charleston and camped across North America with their dog in 2015-16, she knew that becoming a Blue Ridge Naturalist was her next step.

This was an ambition rather far-removed from her previous journeys. Working as a juvenile probation counselor in Greenville and Pickens, SC Cathy was chair of the New Frontiers program – a program designed as an alternative to residential treatment for youth deemed delinquent – a program that sought to open teens to the joys of nature by having them camp, restore trails in Oconee State Park, and learn about nature. Having begun birding while living in California, this hobby continued through her graduate school years and life in Charleston, SC on through the move to Asheville. As a result of deciding to convince Asheville city government to adopt a native plant/non-native plant policy as her final project for the BRN certificate, she was asked to join the Board of the Blue Ridge Audubon Society which she did from 2018-2020. In addition to working to bring birding to inner city children as part of the BR Audubon board, her work on the native plant policy brought her into close association with the Tree Protection Task Force. During that time with the Task Force she chaired a committee to get an amendment to the original Tree Protection Ordinance passed that had more teeth in it for protections of Asheville’s Urban Forest (it passed.)

Apart from these endeavors, Cathy began weaving in 2000 while living in Charleston. She attended the Penland School of Crafts near Burnsville,NC and joined the Western North Carolina Fiber and Handweaving Guild at the same time and never looked back. Upon arriving in Asheville, she promptly volunteered to serve on the board for the guild from 2016-2018, and she is still an active member. Some of her weaving has been hung in three of the Blue Ridge Fiber Shows (2000, 2006 and 2018). Since living in Asheville, she has been fortunate to become engaged more with her weaving, including dyeing with natural dyes and providing blankets for homeless children through the Linus Project. Below are some pictures of her weaving projects.

This is a far cry from the girl who grew up most of her life in New York City and slept under the stars for the first time at the Woodstock “3 Days of Peace and Music,” and who began a love of birds from having had parakeets as pets since the age of 10 while enjoying the wheeling flight of rock pigeons (yes, pigeons!) in Manhattan.  Being a part of the Blue Ridge Naturalist Network feels like the perfect “nesting” place for her involvement with the natural world.