About

Our Mission

To help people reach that place where their own happiness meets environmental sustainability. 

To teach people how the inner world and outer world function so that their lives can become more rewarding. 

To help people identify and retain their individuality so that their unique gifts to the world can give color to the effort to make the world a better place to live.

To help people improve their relationships, associations, and memberships by demonstrating how they can commune with nature in ways that allow them to gain information, obtain guidance, maintain their health, and expand their self-concepts so that nature-preservation is as imperative to them as self-preservation.

To help people become self-motivated and effective as individual leaders.

To help people develop themselves ethically.

Don Pierce: Creator of The
​Heartwood Path
​

Pierce has spent nearly his whole life working to protect the environment. After decades of work as a professional environmentalist, Pierce concluded that a new approach––one focused on the environmentalist and not just the environment––was needed.
     
When famed conservationist David Brower asked him to write “a piece” to show environmentalists how to persevere, the result was a series of online courses that is good for both environmentalists and anyone seeking happiness and the preservation of nature. This series––the Heartwood Path––helps people to develop spiritually, helps people discover the benefits of communing with nature, and helps people find the abundant, abiding, and authentic happiness that comes from helping others, including natural beings.

Pierce formed his first environmental group––a tree planting club––when he was nine. After that, he was president of both his high school and college environmental organizations. After a few years as a professional river conservationist, he was hired by Brower to be the Midwest Representative of Friends of the Earth. Pierce has led numerous conservation groups, including the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club. He was a governor-appointed member of the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission.

He has a Bachelor’s Degree in environmental science, a Master’s Degree in political science, and Master’s Degree in social work. When he was not working to protect the environment or guiding people down the Heartwood Path, Pierce––a qualified life coach and mental health practitioner––served those who needed his care––including those who are young, aged, mentally ill, or mentally disabled.

Currently working on his PH.D in eco-psychology, Pierce divides his time between Santa Barbara, California and St. Louis, Missouri. He is a professional drummer, an avid canoeist, and a photographer. He loves to walk in nature with his dog, his life partner, and her two dogs. He has two grown daughters (one, the mother of his grand daughter, in Missouri and another one somewhere on a sailboat that is often moored in Santa Barbara). 

​The Heartwood Path

The Heartwood Path is a course of study and action that awakens participants to the nature of happiness and the joy of compassionately serving other people and the environment. Three courses are offered on the following topics:

1. universal principles and the structure of integrity,
2. anchoring your individuality, 
3. recalling the benefits of being integrated into the whole of nature.

By stopping at over two hundred points of learning during these courses, you will make strong connections with nature that will provide information, guidance, personal growth, and healing. Whether you seek recreation, happiness, or a sustainable environment, the Heartwood Path is a pleasurable way to the joy that comes by learning an enduring way to make a lasting difference in the world.
​

Courtney Pierce
CEO of the Heartwood Path
​

Courtney Pierce is the daughter of Don Pierce, Creator of the Heartwood Path. At a young age Courtney was known to be tech-savvy, which is why Don hired Courtney to build a website selling his Heartwood Path series of books. She was intrigued by his work and eventually developed a vision to turn the Heartwood Path books into an interactive website where people from all over the world could gather and discuss the teachings. 

After graduating Clayton High School in St. Louis, she moved to Santa Barbara, California to attend Santa Barbara City College, as well as work for the Apple Store. At the Apple Store she began to work with the Business Team where she furthered her technological skills, networked in Santa Barbara, as well as learned the ins and outs of running a business through the eyes of providing them with their Apple products. She constantly exceeded her management's expectations and eventually found herself in a meeting with a director of Human Resources at Apple Inc. Corporate in Cupertino, California. By the end of the meeting she decided her career goal of working for Apple Inc. was no longer her dream. So she quit her day job and followed her heart to turning the Heartwood Path into a state-of-the-art eco-psychology series of courses.

In order to prepare for running a business she attended University of California, Santa Barbara where she majored in Environmental Studies with an outside concentration in their Technology Management Program. After taking many classes in Business Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Sales, Marketing, and New Venture Finance, as well as receiving one-on-one mentorship about the Heartwood Path, she received her Technology Entrepreneurship Certificate. After graduating from UCSB in Fall 2016, Courtney is now prepared to give the Heartwood Path her undivided attention.

Currently, Courtney and her 15-in MacBook Pro are sailing the Pacific coast of Mexico, showcasing how to do the Heartwood Path and promoting environmental awareness. Courtney loves being a mermaid, exploring the great outdoors, adventures, dancing, playing the ukulele, cooking, her boyfriend and their kitten named Disco, and connecting with others. All with the ultimate goal of making the world a better place. 

Click here to begin your journey down the Heartwood Path!