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Forest gardens look and feel different than the forests farther from home or what one normally encounters on the NW Coast. Professor Chelsey Armstrong and her colleagues refer to these forests as novel ecosystems that have no natural analog - composed of communities of species that result from human agency, ecosystem engineering and the introduction of wildcrafted species from nearby regions. While Western science is catching up about these ecosystems, the original and contemporary Indigenous scientists have always known these forests have existed.

Professor Chelsey Armstrong is a historical ecologist and archaeologist based out of Ts'msyen Laxyuup in northwestern British Columbia. She studies human land-use in the past and how those dynamics relate to the present — particularly towards Indigenous sovereignty and socially informed environmental justice and reclamation. Chelsey is assistant professor and director of the Historical and Ethnoecological Research (HER Lab) in Indigenous Studies at Simon Fraser University.

Editing for this episode provided by the wonderful Katie Dunn

Armstrong, C. G., Miller, J., McAlvay, A., Ritchie, P. M., & Lepofsky, D. (2021). Historical Indigenous Land-Use Explains Plant Functional Trait Diversity. Ecology and Society, 26(2).

Historical and Ethnoecological Research (HER) Lab>   https://www.chelseygeralda.com/

Indigenous Peoples in British Columbia Tended ‘Forest Gardens’  from Smithsonian Magazine https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/indigenous-peoples-british-columbia-tended-forest-gardens-180977617/

'Forest gardens’ show how Native land stewardship can outdo nature from National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/forest-gardens-show-how-native-land-stewardship-can-outdo-nature

Unearthing the Work of Indigenous Master Horticulturalists from The Tyee https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/04/28/Unearthing-Work-Indigenous-Master-Horticulturalists/

‘Forest gardens’ planted by Canada’s Indigenous people before the 1800s still benefit ecosystems today from Popular Science https://www.popsci.com/story/environment/indigenous-forest-gardens/

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Music on the show was from Reed Mathis

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I fortuitously got mixed up with this group called Just Language. Christopher Widmaier, Danielle Bunch, Lisa Fink and Celeste Williams interrogate our language around invasive species. Join in the dialogue and effort to make our conservation language more inclusive and purge terms like “invasive” and “alien” that have racist, prejudiced and xenophobic implications. Clayton County Water Authority and Green Collar Collaborations make this project possible.

Just Language on Green Collar Collaborations https://greencollarcollaborations.com/index.php/just-language-in-ecology-education/. The following organizations, businesses, and individuals have provided resources to make this project possible.

Clayton County Water Authority

Green Collar Collaborations

Brainstorm found here from Just Language Group https://padlet.com/edb343/1w8mhv0r0rcahrix

Inglis, M. I. (2020). Wildlife Ethics and Practice: Why We Need to Change the Way We Talk About ‘Invasive Species’. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 1-15. 

Nicholas J. Reo & Laura A. Ogden (2018) “Anishnaabe Aki: An Indigenous Perspective on the Global Threat of Invasive Species” Sustainability Science 

Warren, C. R. (2007). Perspectives on the alien 'versus native' species debate: a critique of concepts, language and practice. Progress in Human Geography, 31(4), 427-446. 

2021 King County Noxious Weed List is official (name changes) https://kingcountyweeds.com/2021/02/18/2021-king-county-noxious-weed-list-is-official/

Stop AAPI Hate https://stopaapihate.org/

Music on this episode was created by Jesse Gallagher and Chris Haugen

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Think of this show when you are dismantling structures. The settler state reorganized the Elwha river physically and threatened the well-being of its original inhabitants for over a century. After the successful dam removals on the Elwha River, Whitney Mauer critically assesses the outcome of the restoration in light of ongoing challenges faced by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. While the full benefits of dam removal take a long time, Dr. Mauer contends ecological restoration is unlikely to promote cultural resurgence “unless the structural basis of ecological violence and Indigenous futurisms of resurgence, self‐determination, and sovereignty are addressed.”

Whitney Mauer is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Her research crosscuts environmental studies, rural and development sociology, and Indigenous and American Indian studies. At the heart of Dr. Mauer’s work are questions surrounding how environmental issues intersect with inequality and stratification, Indigeneity, community, and development. She is broadly interested in understanding how Indigenous conceptions, articulations, and practices of community ‘development’ and well-being are shaped by relations of power and the physical structuring and restructuring of place.

Her current research is focused on a collaborative project with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. In this project and recently published papers, she unpacks the settler colonial origins of dam building and examines resilience frameworks for understanding Indigenous experiences of ecological restoration.

While Dr. Mauer is not a S’Klallam citizen, she prioritizes reciprocity and respect when developing and conducting research in the community. Her research practices and principles are influenced by the principles and concerns described in Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s (2012) Decolonizing Methodologies, which commits to the intellectual and political self-determination and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples. As such, Dr. Mauer recognizes the exploitive history of research in Indigenous communities and have worked to develop a research program that is engaged with Indigeneity, increases the visibility of Indigenous scholars, and co-constructs a research agenda with the community partners, in this case the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.

Mauer, K. W. (2020). Unsettling Resilience: Colonial Ecological Violence, Indigenous Futurisms, and the Restoration of the Elwha River. Rural Sociology.

Mauer, K. W. (2020). Undamming the Elwha River. Contexts, 19(3), 34-39.

Mauer, K. W. (2020). Monopoly’s winners and losers: Elwha River Dam construction as social closure. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 1-11.

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Music on this episode was created by Reed Mathis and MK2.

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Found on the western edge of Turtle Island, the Pacific madrone (qʷuqʷuƛəc) is the largest and most charismatic species in the family Ericaceae. It is a broadleaf-evergreen tree that is rarely dominant in our forests, but indicative of very interesting plant communities.

Join me and the Arbutus ARME (pronounced like "army") to hear about the interspecies love story we share with qʷuqʷuƛəc (Pacific madrone) from a January 28, 2021 growing skills webinar hosted by Tacoma Tree Foundation. We celebrate this sacred and iconic tree to build a shared understanding about its cultural importance. We explore the complex interactions and patterns that arise in madrone forests that harbor biodiversity belowground and in the canopy. Importantly, we also highlight the adaptive capacity and resiliency of the species amidst climate disruption.

Then, I bring in the core team of Arbutus ARME to address additional tough questions.

Marianne Elliot is known as one of the few experts on this species. She is a Plant Pathologist with Washington State University Plant Pathology Program. Marianne has a special history with madrone research and is co-founder of Arbutus ARME. She plays a key role in identifying madrone diseases and encouraging madrone research and collaboration.

Joey Hulbert joined the WSU Ornamental Plant Pathology Program at the WSU Research and Extension Center in Puyallup as a Postdoctoral Fellow funded by the USDA. He recently returned to the Pacific Northwest after spending four years in South Africa leading Cape Citizen Science.

More about Arbutus ARME by visiting www.arbutusarme.org

Thanks to Tacoma Tree Foundation for making space to highlight the relationship we have with madrone and building the skills required to help ensure we have a future for the species.

TTF YouTube of “Pacific madrone: sacred, adaptive, emergent” https://youtu.be/begqlp9BeYc

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Music on this episode was from the YouTube Audio Library: You heard from Chris Haugen and Dimanche

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We cope with climate variability whether we acknowledge it or not in a variety of ways. On this episode, Brenda Clifton and I discuss the intentional ways practitioners are adjusting for climate change in restoration practice.

This was a recording of a session I took part in at the January 19th virtual North Sound Riparian Conference. This event was hosted by the good people at the Skagit Watershed Council, Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group, and Skagit River System Cooperative.

When I say Sound that means Puget Sound or the southern estuary of the Salish Sea, connected to the wider Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Georgia and Strait Juan de Fuca. Most the folks attending the conference were in the North Sound.

Brenda Clifton is a plant ecologist with over 20 years of experience in plant biology and propagation. Ms. Clifton has a bachelor's degree in Botany and her master's thesis is in plant physiology. She is a certified Professional Wetland Scientist with the Society of Wetland Scientists. She has worked for the Skagit River System Cooperative for over 10 years. The Cooperative provides natural resource management services for the Sauk-Suiattle (soc suyattle) Indian Tribe and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. Brenda manages the vegetation aspects of salmonid habitat restoration projects, including developing planting, vegetation management, maintenance and monitoring plans and running a nursery with over 15,000 plants.

Lots of smart people were presenting and listening in on this conference. This event was recorded, so if you want to watch it the recording will be posted on the Skagit Watershed Council’s website: https://www.skagitwatershed.org.

Forest Adaptation Network: https://www.nnrg.org/climateadaptation/forest-adaptation-network/ 

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Music for this show was from Yung Logos

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Welcome to the Restoration Decade! Ann-Kathrin Neureuther recently joined UNEP as Communication Manager for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. She walks us through the Decade Strategy that will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The new U.N. Decade will officially launch on World Environment Day, on June 5, 2021.

Ann-Kathrin’s job is to communicate this gigantic restoration initiative that joins forces with the The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and U.N. Sustainable Development Goals focused on resisting climate change, protecting and improving the well-being of local populations, and preserving biodiversity. The Decade Strategy frames the problem like this: the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will not be achieved without large-scale restoration of degraded terrestrial, freshwater & marine ecosystems globally. The vision is a world where — for the health and wellbeing of all life on Earth and that of future generations — we have restored the relationship between humans and nature, by increasing the area of healthy ecosystems, and by putting a stop to their loss, fragmentation and degradation.

Do you know whose land you are on? Open up https://native-land.ca right now to identify to whom the land belongs where you live, work and play.

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Jeremy Bearimy: How Time Works in the Afterlife - The Good Place (Episode Highlight) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFm9ClqlGuo

Music on this episode was from the YouTube Audio Library: You heard from Anno Domini Beats and Cheel.

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Dr. Nicole Redvers endeavors to integrate Indigenous and culturally-appropriate medicine into Western medical practice. If healing our relationship with land is key to revitalize traditional health and wellness, could ecological restoration become a public health strategy for the future?

Native Land https://native-land.ca/ 

Dr. Redvers is an author, mother, Indigenous health advocate and assistant professor at the University of North Dakota, Department of Family & Community Medicine & Indians into Medicine Programs. She was the first licensed practicing naturopathic doctor in North America who is Dene (a member of the Deninu K’ue First Nation Band).

The Science of the Sacred: Bridging Global Indigenous Medicine Systems and Modern Scientific Principles by Nicole Redvers | Published by North Atlantic Books on 2019-03-26

Redvers, N., Poelina, A., Schultz, C., Kobei, D. M., Githaiga, C., Perdrisat, M., ... & Blondin, B. S. (2020). Indigenous Natural and First Law in Planetary Health. Challenges, 11(2), 29.

Redvers, N., Yellow Bird, M., Quinn, D., Yunkaporta, T., & Arabena, K. (2020). Molecular decolonization: an Indigenous microcosm perspective of planetary health. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(12), 4586.

International Journal of Indigenous Health https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijih/about

First Nations Health Authority https://www.fnha.ca/what-we-do/traditional-healing

Organisation for Noetic Ecology https://noeticecology.org

Jennifer Redvers (Nicole’s sister) thesis examines the cultural concept and role of the Land as healer in Indigenous communities in the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut, and the importance of facilitating modern Land-based programs and activities for integrated health, education, and environmental outcomes (see below):

Redvers, J. M. (2016). Land-based Practice for Indigenous Health and Wellness in Yukon, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB.

Or shorter version recently published

Redvers, J. (2020). “The land is a healer”: Perspectives on land-based healing from Indigenous practitioners in northern Canada. International Journal of Indigenous Health, 15(1), 90-107.

EcoHealth Network https://ecohealthglobal.org/ecological-restoration/public-health/

Music on this episode was from the YouTube Audio Library: Bodélé Depression (Mega-Chad Mix) by Jesse Gallagher and Spruce Tree by Ashley Shadow

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Dr. Robert Michael Pyle is a biologist and writer who has worked in conservation biology around the world. While the Xerces Blue butterfly disappeared in the early 1940s, in its honor Bob founded the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Contrary to the popular conservation cliché, extinction may not always have to be forever. In the year 2000, Bob published an article he called “Resurrection Ecology” suggesting the Xerces rise again. This proposal is not entirely fictional if we endeavor to rewild ourselves and address some important implications for ethics and justice in the process.

The Native American Ethnobotany Database http://herb.umd.umich.edu

“Resurrection Ecology” in Butler, Tom, ed., Wild Earth 10, no. 3 (Fall 2000). Republished by the Environment & Society Portal, Multimedia Library. http://www.environmentandsociety.org/sites/default/files/key_docs/rcc_00097010_3_1.pdf

Culturally competent approaches in conservation biology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dzSglgAeq4

Pacific madrone: sacred, emergent, adaptive

*Hosted by Tacoma Tree Foundation January 28, 2021 @12 PM PST
Join me to hear about the interspecies love story we share with qʷiqʷəł (Pacific madrone). We will celebrate this sacred and iconic tree to build a shared understanding about its cultural significance. I  will explore the complex interactions and patterns that arise in madrone forests that harbor biodiversity belowground and in the canopy. Importantly, I also want to highlight the adaptive capacity and resiliency of the species amidst climate disruption.
*Find links to the meetup on Facebook https://fb.me/e/1T0GmN420 and people can register at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xIzmsJCdSrGON9DRrzIWxw

Visit the episode details at the treehugger website

Music on this episode was Butterfly Launches from Spar Pole

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Shana Lee Hirsch investigates the Columbia River Basin of the past, the present and the sociotechnical imaginaries of the River in her new book. In this episode, we discuss emerging approaches to restoration and getting in right relationship with climate change.

Last summer, UW Press published Hirsch’s book: Anticipating Future Environments: Climate Change, Adaptive Restoration, and the Columbia River Basin. Shana is a Research Scientist in the Department of Human Centered Design and Engineering at UW. She has an interdisciplinary background in sustainability social science and water management and policy. Her work draws on participatory design methods and theories from science and technology studies. She is also Associate Director of the Pacific Marine Energy Center, where she brings collaborative methods for understanding innovation to power remote communities.

The Basin ecosystem provides for us, and Shana gets into the details about a subset of people who really care about the Basin in return. She provides insights into the everyday of restoration, the tools people use, and the emergent tactics of coping and getting in right relationship with climate change – which in turn changes us and the science itself.

Within the current system people are trying to help. People. Love. Salmon. The strength of the River restoration is really the strength of that relationship with the fish and their connection with everything else. The restoration effort combines that love, the human wherewithal and resilience through adaptation.

Hirsch, S. L., & Long, J. (2020). Adaptive Epistemologies: Conceptualizing Adaptation to Climate Change in Environmental Science. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 0162243919898517.

Hirsch, S. L. (2019). Anticipatory practices: Shifting baselines and environmental imaginaries of ecological restoration in the Columbia River Basin. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 3(1), 40-57.

Visit the episode details at the treehugger website

Music on this episode was Freedom Trail Studio and DJ Williams on YouTube

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A lot has happened in the past year since we first discussed microbiome rewilding with Jacob Mills. At this reunion, we chat about building our immune system, rewilding greenspaces equitably, cultural restoration, decolonizing science and restoration, and updates on Jacob’s research to restore native soil microbiota to urban greenspaces and schools.

Eco Restoration Network https://www.ecorestorationnetwork.com

NDN Science Show https://ndnscienceshow.wordpress.com/about/

Mills, J. G., Weinstein, P., Gellie, N. J., Weyrich, L. S., Lowe, A. J., & Breed, M. F. (2017). Urban habitat restoration provides a human health benefit through microbiome rewilding: the Microbiome Rewilding Hypothesis. Restoration ecology, 25(6), 866-872.

Selway, C. A., Mills, J. G., Weinstein, P., Skelly, C., Yadav, S., Lowe, A., ... & Weyrich, L. S. (2020). Transfer of environmental microbes to the skin and respiratory tract of humans after urban green space exposure. Environment International, 145, 106084.

Mills, Jacob G. Nature needs people, but people need connection: Can microbes be the 'joining dots'? Australasian Plant Conservation: Journal of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation, Vol. 29, No. 1, Jun-Aug 2020: 31-33.

Music on this episode was DJ Williams on YouTube

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Think you have a right to a healthy environment? You don’t. Green Amendments For the Generations, led by Maya van Rossum, has been working to establish rights of all people to clean water and air along with a stable climate in our state constitutions. Elevating the environment on par with free speech, bearing arms and voting has the potential to empower constitutional change, protect our welfare and prevent environmental racism.

Maya is also the Delaware Riverkeeper, leading the watershed-based advocacy organization, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, for 25 years in its efforts to protect the health of the Delaware River and its tributaries. Maya was a lead petitioner in the 2013 landmark Robinson Township, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, et. al. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania case that breathed new life into Pennsylvania’s long ignored environmental rights amendment. A skilled activist, attorney, strategist and community organizer, since launching Green Amendments For The Generations, Maya has assisted constitutional amendments to be proposed in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Vermont and West Virginia.

Green Amendments for the Generations https://forthegenerations.org

Get involved with Tacoma LNG Resistance: Hear about campaign updates and calls to action―to subscribe, just send an email to: standwithpuyallup-subscribe@lists.350seattle.org

Ecuador is the first country to recognize Rights of Nature in its Constitution.  The country rewrote its Constitution in 2008 and it was ratified by referendum by the people. Rather than treating nature as property under the law, Rights for Nature Articles acknowledge that nature in all its life forms has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles.

Dr. David R. Boyd https://twitter.com/SREnvironment, the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment

Music on this episode was DJ Williams on YouTube

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As liberal democracies fail to address environmental problems, what solution does the Chinese model offer? China Goes Green is a new book that peers under the hood of the authoritarian state's ambitions to pursue "ecological civilization." Chinese scholars Yifei Li and Judith Shapiro join me to discuss their cautious optimism and deconstruct this unique type of developmental environmentalism.

China’s Massive Belt and Road Initiative

Polity: https://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509543113

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1509543120

The Economist Interview: https://www.economist.com/china/2020/09/12/chinas-authoritarian-approach-wont-save-the-environment

China Dialogue: https://chinadialogue.net/en/cities/as-china-goes-green-should-the-world-celebrate-its-model/

Author emails yifei.li@nyu.edu and shapiro@american.edu

Thanks for the Seattle band Dumb Thumbs for providing the theme song. You can find all of their tunes at dumbthumbs.bandcamp.com.

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This episode delves into the intersections of climate change, community well-being, justice and restoration of our urban ecosystems. The focus is on urban heat and the challenge of heat islands. Treehugger is joined by Vivek Shandas who Professor of Climate Adaptation and Director of the Sustaining Urban Places Research Lab at Portland State University. Dr. Shandas' studies the effects of urban development patterns and processes on environmental health. By examining the assumptions about our built environment, Dr. Shandas supports communities in improving their adaptation from climate stressors, including extreme events such as urban heat, air quality, and storms. Vivek serves as Chair of the City of Portland's Urban Forestry Commission, and on several other local and national advisory boards.

Visit this episode details at the treehugger website https://www.treehuggerpod.com/episodes/urban-heat

treehugger mixtape on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7eToZ1T7SUzMYC4CktIEeF?si=uozZvq8tRIWu2Krq0788-g

Bloomburg Life and Death in Our Hot Future Will Be Shaped by Today’s Income Inequality By Eric Roston, Paul Murray and Rachael Dottle

Hoffman, J. S., Shandas, V., & Pendleton, N. (2020). The effects of historical housing policies on resident exposure to intra-urban heat: A study of 108 US urban areas. Climate, 8(1), 12.

New York Times. Earth is overheating. Millions are already feeling the pain. a series of photo essays documenting the outsize effect that extreme heat has on the poor and marginalized

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The Pileated woodpecker is one of the quintessential forest species where I live. Their red crest helps them stand out in a crowd and the  charismatic pecking at dead trees characterizes them as “ecosystem engineers.” They jumpstart a patchy mosaic of forest succession, facilitate biodiversity and are key to the recovery of some forest ecosystems. Listen in on this discussion in the suburbs of Seattle with Dr. John Marzluff.

Dr. Marzluff is a James W. Ridgeway Professor of Wildlife Science at the University of Washington. His graduate and post-doctoral research focused on the social behavior and ecology of jays and ravens. He makes corvids cool. He continues this theme through his current research that focuses on the interactions of ravens and wolves in Yellowstone. Dr. Marzluff has mentored over 40 graduate students and authored over 140 scientific papers on various aspects of bird behavior and wildlife management. A couple graduate and doctoral students such as Jorge Tomasevic and Tina Bluitt notably worked to investigate the object of our discussion – the Pileated woodpecker.

Professor Marzluff is uniquely situated to speak about our topic. He has written five books and edited several others. His Welcome to Subirdia (2014 Yale) discovers that moderately settled lands host a splendid array of biological diversity and suggests ways in which people can steward these riches to benefit birds and themselves.  His most recent In Search of Meadowlarks (2020 Yale) connects our agriculture and diets to the conservation of birds and other wildlife.

Below is the most recent paper that prompted me to reach out to Dr. Marzluff:

J Tomasevic & J Marzluff 2020. Roosting, reproduction, and survivorship of Pileated Woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) in a suburban setting. Avian Conservation and Ecology 15 (1)

Find John on Twitter @subirdia

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Visit the this episode details at the treehugger website https://www.treehuggerpod.com/episodes/suburban-woodpeckers

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Early in 2020, UC Santa Cruz Professor Karen Holl published “Primer of Ecological Restoration” through Island Press. Karen is a season veteran of ecological restoration with her boots (and her students embedded) on the ground in Latin American and Californian ecosystems. She has created an accessible book that explains foundational concepts with care while also highlighting more advanced topics for reflection.

Professor Holl has served as chair of the Environmental Studies Department at UCSC and is currently the faculty director of the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History.  Karen jokes that she has been in some form or another writing this book for 25 years and her repertoire of authored and contributed articles shows off her knowledge and experience in forest ecology in Latin America and chaparral, grassland and riparian systems in California. She oversees a long-term tropical forest restoration study in southern Costa Rica and has worked with students and collaborators in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Panama. Karen advises numerous land management and conservation organizations in California and internationally on ecological restoration. She further works to advance efforts to conserve tropical forest, in part by training students from Latin American countries.

Island Press webpage for the book Primer of Ecological Restoration https://islandpress.org/primer-ecological-restoration 20% discount code ‘PRIMER’ to be used at checkout

Holl Restoration Ecology Lab http://www.holl-lab.com/

Professor Karen Holl on Google Scholar

Tree planting is not a simple solution by Karen D. Holl and Pedro H. S. Brancalion | Science 08 May 2020: Vol. 368, Issue 6491, pp. 580-581

Science Podcast “Making antibodies to treat coronavirus, and why planting trees won’t save the planet” Karen’s piece starts about minute 14:00.

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It is no longer science fiction. The future is now people. Can we respond quicker to disturbances and mitigate climate change by planting tough places with drones? Matthew Aghai joins me from Droneseed to demystify this ever-adaptable technology. This company is scaling up to what Matthew refers to as “terraforming-level operations using biomimicry” - package seed up with resources to survive, load it into a swarm of aircraft and bombs away – plant forests.

Matthew Aghai is currently the Director of Research and Development at DroneSeed Co in Seattle. Previously his work as a consultant had sent him around the world to pursue reforestation including projects in the Central Midwestern US, intermountain US, the Pacific Northwest, the Hawaiian Islands, Australia, Europe, the Middle east and more. He has trained and practiced for over a decade as a nurseryman and restoration specialist. In addition to previous degrees in forestry and wildland management, he is a PhD Candidate at the University of Washington. Reforestation and native plant restoration have always been his mission.

Learn more about Droneseed https://www.droneseed.com/

Join #TeamTrees at https://teamtrees.org or check out video from Mark Rober - former NASA engineer, current YouTuber and friend of science https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7nJBFjKqAY

University of Washington Botanic Gardens’ Ecological Restoration Symposium in Seattle, WA was postponed until June 16th. It will now be a remote meeting. The theme is Pollinators, Pests, and Prey: Considering the roles of and mitigating for the influence of invertebrates within regional ecological restoration efforts https://botanicgardens.uw.edu/education/adults/conferences-symposia/ecological-restoration-symposium

Save the Date for February 8-11, 2021. The Society for Ecological Restoration Northwest and Western Canada Chapters present a Joint Regional Conference on Adapting Restoration Practices to a Changing Climate in Eugene, Oregon. I am organizing field trips, so please reach out to me if you have ideas about nearby sites to visit. https://chapter.ser.org/northwest/conferences/2021-regional-conference

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On this episode I want to introduce you to Sean Rowe. He is a restorationist born and raised in Humboldt County, CA. Sean has a science communication-based business called Resonant Restoration that is currently doing the Resonant Restoration Podcast with his cohost, Kyle Sipes. The podcast focuses on topics related to the world of ecological restoration and includes interviews about specific projects occurring around the world.

Sean is a Botanist with SHN in northern California. His work includes ecological restoration, wetland delineations, rare plant surveys, monitoring, and stormwater compliance. He is a qualified SWPPP practitioner (QSP), qualified industrial stormwater practitioner (QISP), and certified erosion, sediment, and stormwater inspector (CESSWI). Sean has a bachelors in ecological restoration and a minor in botany from Humboldt State University and was born and raised in Humboldt County, California. He has been fortunate to work on great endeavors such as the Salt River Ecosystem Restoration Project, The Willits Bypass Mitigation Project, and on the Prosper Ridge Coastal Grassland Restoration effort.  

The Resonant Restoration podcast focuses on topics related to the world of ecological restoration and includes interviews about specific projects occurring around the world. The show is produced in order to encourage discussion and collaboration in the field of restoration ecology with both practitioners and the general public. Episodes to date include wallflower restoration, floating treatment islands, forest revegetation using open source unmanned aerial vehicles, and beaver dam analogues in northern California. The show includes background information on types of restoration endeavors, an interview segment, a segment on California phenology, and a plant of the week.

Resonant Restoration website resonantrestoration.com/

Resonant Restoration on Instagram instagram.com/resonantrestoration/

Resonant Restoration on Twitter twitter.com/restorationpod

Are you a garden lover? Check out my @spokengarden podcast and blog https://spokengarden.com/

Thanks for the Seattle band Dumb Thumbs for providing the theme song. You can find all of their tunes at dumbthumbs.bandcamp.com.

Tell a few friends about the show and follow the podcast on Instagram and Twitter @treehuggerpod

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Forests can and do play an essential role in urban life in many places - 4 bil people live in cities world! Join my conversation with Sarah Low, Executive Director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation - an organization dedicated to community-powered urban greening in the South Puget Sound of Washington State. They provide a great template for community engagement around tree planting, tree care and integration of urban greening into the fabric of our lives. They are helping to shape our urban ecosystem.

Some say the Earth told us to go to our rooms and think about it for awhile back in the early days of 2020. Many many people were forced to do nothing in order to protect the old, the weak and the vulnerable when SARS2 spread around the world. It has been a human crisis that called for solidarity. This interview was recorded in the early parts of 2020, just as the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day was just getting started. Even though a whole Earth Year of activities were being planned, the coronavirus put a small dent in the "normal" schedule of events. 

Tacoma Tree Foundation website https://www.tacomatreefoundation.org/

Tacoma Tree Foundation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tacomatrees

and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tacomatreefoundation

How racism kept black Tacomans from buying houses for decades by Kate Martin in Tacoma News Tribune from 2018

Compare the historic redlining maps against the City’s urban forestry canopy data

City of Tacoma Urban Forest Management Plan https://www.tacomatreeplan.org/

Special Issue “The Science and Practice of Managing Forests in Cities” in the journal Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Thanks for the Seattle band Dumb Thumbs for providing the theme song. You can find all of their tunes at dumbthumbs.bandcamp.com.

Tell a few friends about the show and follow the podcast on Instagram and Twitter @treehuggerpod

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Natural light from the sun is so vital to the health of every living thing. My guest on this episode is Dr. Travis Longcore. He is going to “illuminate” this topic of the ecology of light, especially focusing on impacts of artificial light at night. Light pollution doesn’t just affect our ecosystems. The loss of darkness is linked to increased energy consumption and a disrupted connection with the night sky. There are important consequences for human health too.

You can find out more about Travis by visiting his website travislongcore.net.

twitter: @travislongcore #lightpollution

And more about the Urban Wildlands Group at www.urbanwildlands.org.

Links to explore noted in the episode:

University of Utah in Salt Lake City developed a new undergraduate minor in dark sky studies in 2019 housed in the College of Architecture + Planning. 

Metro21: Smart Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon

Loss of the night Berlin, interdisciplinary research project about light pollution

International Dark-Sky Association

Draft strategy for the Restoration Decade is up and available to peruse and comment on. Available at www.decadeonrestoration.org/get-involved/strategy

Thanks for the Seattle band Dumb Thumbs for providing the theme song. You can find all of their tunes at dumbthumbs.bandcamp.com.

Tell a few friends about the show and follow the podcast on Instagram and Twitter @treehuggerpod.

Finally, an episode about forests. And climate. My guest Dr. Sally Aitken delivers a nuanced discussion that embraces the complexity of how climate has and will continue to drive change in our beloved long-lived tree species and plant communities.

Sally Aitken is currently a Professor and Associate Dean, Research and Innovation, in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. In 2001, Aitken helped start the Centre for Forest Conservation Genetics at UBC. Broadly, she studies the population, conservation, and ecology of forests. More specifically she is deeply involved in large-scale multi-institutional, applied genomics project that use population genomics, common garden experiments and climate-mapping technologies to help guide reforestation decisions for new climates.

As restorationists we make decisions about which plant seeds and other propagules to introduce to the land, or in some cases, the sea to assist the natural processes for ecosystem recovery. This episode is a a primer on the response adaptation strategies that exist that allow ecosystems to adapt to the changing climates they are bound to experience. 

Resources to explore that we mentioned

Center for Forest Conservation Genetics and CoAdapTree Project: Healthy trees for future climates

British Columbia Provincial webpage on “Climate-Based Seed Transfer,” this is replete with updates as late as 2019, video presentations and fact sheets on their science-based policy 

United States Forest Service Seedlot Selection Tool in the Climate Change Resource Center. Initial conceptualization and development was done by Glenn Howe, Brad St. Clair and Ron Beloin.

The Walrus from December 2015 "Run, Forest, Run: Helping trees flee climate change"

Scientific American from August 2015 "How to Move a Forest of Genes"

Twitter/ @SallyNAitken

Thanks for listening. See you in the woods.