The Light Touch
The name for this enterprise comes from the recognition that sunlight provides the foundational energy for all of earth's systems.
Ecology is infinitely complex; conditions arise based on the interaction of countless variables, some knowable, others not.
As not only land stewards, but one of those variables ourselves, we have a responsibility to the system itself. The only other non-living variable we can reasonably affect is that foundational energy.
The act of ecological restoration is, in many ways, the manipulation of sunlight. We as a species are blessed with the ability, and the responsibility, to decide through our interaction what the light will touch.
Writing Your Chapter
Every piece of land tells a story. Once one learns to hear it, that story is unflinchingly honest. We take up a pen and start writing the moment we take ownership of the land, whether we know it or not.
Quality restoration requires thinking both scientifically and artistically. My goal is to help landowners take ownership of their authorship.
I work with landowners to understand why their property looks the way it does, from soil to canopy. From there, we talk about what they would like to see, and paths that may take us there.
Before and after unmasking an oak savanna
My name is Kenny, and I am the owner and sole employee of Light Touch Ecological LLC.
I grew up in LeClaire, Iowa, with a very different vision for where life would take me.
Graduating from Augustana College in 2009, I spent my youth mostly in the same mid-size suburban community of the Quad City "Metro" Area.
I ran track and cross country throughout high school and college, and fishing the Mississippi and Wapsi Rivers whenever I could. But I never considered myself "outdoorsy."
Throughout college I harbored aspirations of an academic career, with sweater vests and framed diplomas. Until suddenly, I realized I didn't want that.
On a whim and some good advice from a great friend, I took a job with the Montana Conservation Corps. I threw my robe and cap in the back of my Saturn sedan and drove west immediately after graduation, completely unaware of what would come next.
During some "off-time" with the rest of my MCC crew, towards the end of my service term, our crew leader had us hike up a mountain to write a letter to "Wilderness," capital W, those federally-designated places mostly in the western US where "man himself is a visitor who does not remain."
Growing up in Iowa, I had never known such places existed before I began hauling a crosscut saw 7 miles into them to do work I didn't know existed until I got to do it.
As we sat on top of what we'd dubbed "Howlin' Wolf Peak," and scribbled our letters, I began to cry. Quietly, so no one would see. We then set our letters on fire and scattered the ashes into the wind.
I realized right then and there, the hard work, the fresh air, and the feeling that I had left the land a little better than I found it, gave me purpose. I never looked back. When my term ended and I came home, I saw a new Iowa.
A wounded place, a place that needed some of the elbow grease I had cultivated in the northern Rockies. I set a goal to help Iowa find its connection to wild things again.
Life then took me on another adventure, first at Effigy Mounds National Monument where I cut my teeth in the art of interpretation, the fancy term for "park ranger who tells you stuff."
That vocation took me all over the country, to Carlsbad Caverns and Wind Cave, to Zion and back to Missoula, MT, and back to Zion before having one last magical season in Yellowstone where I asked my wife to marry me, acquired a cat, and settle down.
2015 brought me back home to Iowa, this time for the Clayton County Conservation Board. I began as a naturalist, helping people of all ages appreciate the unique resources Iowa has to offer.
In 2018 I began to take care of those resources myself, becoming the organization's first Natural Resource Manager in addition to my naturalist duties.
In that time I had the pleasure of caring for over 1500 acres of forest, prairie, and parkland. I planted pocket prairies and executed complex timber burns of over 30 acres.
In 2021, I saw a need in the private sector for more people who could care for the woods. Logging and skidding can only go so far, important though they may be.
I began this business that year as "Slocum Timber Services LLC."
I learned quickly that more is needed, and more can be done, and in 2026 handed in my keys to the Osborne Nature Center to devote myself full-time to the important work of connecting landowners with their land.
I changed names to reflect a more complete purpose. I want to shine a light, literally and figuratively, on Iowa's potential for a brighter ecological future.
I look forward to every visit, for every visit is a lesson. If you want to talk habitats, give me a call or an email. I always love to talk shop.