About Us
512 Natural Pathways provides support, training, and resources for organizations and non-profit projects. With over 40 years of experience, we specialize in building regenerative communities using 8 Shields principles, the 512 Map, village building, culture repair, and deep nature connection programs.
Consulting Services
We partner with you, your organization, and your community to identify goals and challenges, design a regenerative model for success, and implement practices that foster connection and resilience. Together we train, support, and mentor your team every step of the way.
Our services include:
Training effective youth mentors
Creating dynamic training experiences
Parent orientation and trainings
Community helper programs for adult volunteers
Integrating creative arts into programming
Organizational design and consulting
Strategic planning
Leadership training, support, and coaching
Curriculum development
Elder training and development
Building effective, connective cultures
Advanced conflict resolution, prevention, and communication skills
Facilitation and teaching effective design principles
Rates & Getting Started
Corporate Rate: $500/hour
Non-Profit Rate: $300/hour
We offer a wide-ranging scope of consulting options, from ongoing monthly advisory sessions to in-depth long-term organizational development initiatives.
Contact us to set up a free discovery session and explore how we can support your goals.
Email: [email protected]
Our Team
At 512 Natural Pathways, our consultants bring decades of experience helping individuals, organizations, and communities foster deep nature connection, cultural repair, and thriving, resilient relationships.
Jon Young 
Jon Young is a naturalist, mentor, and author with over 40 years of experience helping communities build connection and resilience. Creator of the 512 Map and 8 Shields model, Jon works worldwide to restore regenerative culture, foster mentoring, and inspire thriving relationships with nature and each other.
Aidan Young
Aidan Young is a mentor and naturalist with over 20 years of experience guiding individuals and organizations through connection, strategy, and cultural restoration. With extensive nonprofit leadership experience, he supports communities in building effective, resilient programs rooted in ecological awareness and personal growth.
Sarah Fontaine
Sarah Fontaine is a wildlife tracker, interspecies communicator, and facilitator with over 25 years of experience integrating neuroscience, somatics, and indigenous wisdom into nature connection. She helps individuals and communities reconnect with themselves and the natural world through courses, mentoring, and experiential programs.
Guiding Principles & Methodologies
8 Shields
The 8 Shields model is a holistic framework to foster deep nature connection, community vitality, and personal growth. It aligns learning and relationships with natural cycles and indigenous wisdom, emphasizing peacemaking and mentoring as central to regenerative culture.
The 512 Map
The 512 Map, developed by Jon Young, identifies 512 cultural elements—such as rites of passage, storytelling, and ecological stewardship—that sustain connection and community well-being. It serves as a blueprint for regenerative cultural design.
Village Building
Village building creates intentional communities through mentoring structures, cultural practices, and ecological integration. This approach fosters a sense of belonging and purpose connected to both people and place.
Culture Repair
Culture repair revitalizes practices that support human well-being and ecological balance by reintegrating ancestral wisdom, fostering connection, and promoting healing from cultural disconnection and trauma.
Deep Nature Connection
Deep nature connection facilitates the emergence of the Attributes of Connection, through sensory engagement, time alone in nature, tracking and observation practices, “catching” each others’ stories through deep unconditional listening, and mentoring with the aim of fostering the emergence of each individual’s unique gifts, and supporting their continued growth and flourishing.
Attributes of Connection
Our research and experience shows the following 8 attributes emerge in individuals over time as they participate in deep nature connection and receive mentoring in our methodology.
Quiet Mind
Happiness of a Child
Vitality
Unconditional Listening
Empathy
Being Truly Helpful
Fully Aliveness (Appreciating the sacredness of life)
Unconditional Love
Case Studies & Success Stories
We’ve been honored to guide these organizations toward success:
Manzanita School (California) – Since 2014, offering a rigorous indoor-outdoor curriculum integrating academics, stewardship, and leadership. Website
Wilderness Awareness School (Washington) – Since 1983, cultivating healthy relationships with nature, self, and community through outdoor education. Website
The Living Earth School (Virginia) – Since 2002, empowering students through nature-based education and mentorship. Website
Wildniswissen (Germany) – Since 1995, delivering immersive wilderness education across Germany. Website
Sacred Earth (UK) – Providing experiential learning and mentoring in harmony with nature since its founding. Website
Earth Tracks – Alexis Burnett (Canada) – Teaching wildlife tracking, plant knowledge, and wilderness skills for over 30 years. Website
La Ecovilla (Costa Rica) – Founded in 2012, a thriving sustainable community model integrating permaculture and education. Website
Looby Macnamara – Cultural Emergence (UK) – A leader in regenerative culture and author of People & Permaculture and Cultural Emergence. Website
Scientific Evidence that Supports our Work
Nature Connection: Providing a Pathway from Personal to Planetary Health
Summary - Urgent, deep structural changes are needed to address global challenges like biodiversity loss, climate change, and human health, which stem from selfishness, greed, and apathy. Spiritual and cultural transformation, or "inner" development, is crucial for "outward" transitions toward sustainable societies. Connection to nature, linked to community cohesion and prosocial actions, may be a vital path to foster individual and community well-being, and environmental responsibility. Read More
Children In Nature Network
Co-founded by Richard Louv in 2006, the Children In Nature Network has compiled research over the years on the benefits of nature and created accessible videos and articles, as well as the largest research library available on the benefits of nature.
Nature’s Benefits 101 (17min evidence-based video)
Influenced Voices
Our work has inspired thought leaders shaping the global conversation around connection and culture:
Richard Louv – Author of Last Child in the Woods, which introduced “nature-deficit disorder” and sparked a worldwide movement for nature connection.
Craig Foster – Filmmaker and author of Sea Change and My Octopus Teacher, whose storytelling deepens our relationship with the ocean and ecology.
Looby Macnamara – Author of People & Permaculture and Cultural Emergence, empowering individuals and communities to live regeneratively.