Richard Nelson

Richard K. Nelson (1 December 1941 — 4 November 2019), also known as "Nels", to Florence and Robert Nelson. He had a brother, Dave. While he was working towards his PhD, Nelson lived in Chalkyitsik, Alaska, a small village with Gwich’in Athabaskans, for one year.

Nelson was taken off of life support and died Monday, 4 November 2019, at a San Francisco hospital. He had been fighting for his life over the years due to cancer and the medical complications arising from it. In 2003, Nelson began to host the syndicated radio show Encounters, a nature program aired across the nation, such as the interior village of Huslia and specifically, the Alaskan city of Sitka, where he resided for many years. The book was published in 1983

Nelson's more recent works include Heart and Blood: Living with Deer in America and Patriotism and the American Land (book two in The New Patriotism Series) with Barry Lopez and Terry Tempest Williams, published in 1997. Heart and Blood: Living with Deer in America and Patriotism and the American Land seek to identify the purpose and place deer have within civilization.