What is Sam's relationship with nature?

Taking his entire adventure into account, I would say that Sam has a good working relationship with nature. He exists in a state of harmony with nature, and this is mainly because Sam avoids seeing nature as an antagonist. Sam knows that he can obtain everything that he needs for survival from nature, yet he knows, equally, that nature can be quite dangerous. The unfortunate thing is that Sam learns some very hard lessons about nature's ability to make his life miserable. Early on in his adventure, he is constantly hungry, and he isn't good at planning ahead for when the weather might be bad or food might be in short supply; however, he learns from experience that his initial assumptions were correct. Nature is capable of providing him with what he needs. He just has to learn to read nature and its signs better. Probably the best indicator of Sam's good relationship with nature is that after the winter is done, Sam still believes that he made the right choice in leaving New York.