treehugger podcast Michael Yadrick

This episode delves into the integration of artificial intelligence within the field of ecological restoration. Covering a broad spectrum from the practical to the philosophical, the conversation explores the potential for AI to reshape restoration practices, the ethical considerations at play, and the importance of balancing technological advancement with traditional ecological knowledge. Through personal anecdotes, professional experiences, and a look towards the future, the guests offer a comprehensive exploration of how AI is shaping the landscape of ecological restoration and what that means for the environment and society.
Episode Segments
1. Introducing the Experts
Meet Sam Woodrich, a Ph.D. student at Oregon State University, and Dr. Timothy Pape, a postdoctoral research associate at Bowling Green State University. Both bring a wealth of knowledge in environmental and social sciences and share their insights on AI in ecological restoration.
Woodrich, Samuel T., and Timothy Pape. "Ecological restoration and artificial intelligence: whose values inform a project?." Restoration Ecology (2024): e14128.
2. Exploring AI in Ecological Restoration
An overview of how AI is currently being utilized in ecological restoration projects. This segment covers practical applications, from predictive modeling to species identification.
3. Bridging the Gap: AI Tools as Assistants
Discussion on AI tools such as the Merlin Bird ID app and iNaturalist, and how they assist in ecological monitoring and data collection. The segment emphasizes the collaborative potential between AI and human expertise.
4. Debating AI's Role and Impact
A critical look at the limitations and biases of AI in ecological restoration. This segment explores the ethical considerations and the need for integrating traditional ecological knowledge with AI-driven methods.
5. Artificial Intelligence: Friend or Foe?
An exploration of AI’s potential benefits and risks. The experts discuss whether AI can be a reliable partner in restoration efforts or if it poses significant challenges that need to be carefully managed.
6. Looking to the Future: AI, Restoration, and Beyond
Insights into future advancements in AI technology and their potential impact on ecological restoration. The segment highlights the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and adaptive management in leveraging AI for sustainable outcomes.
7. Wrapping Up and Rapid Fire Questions
A fun and engaging wrap-up segment where the experts answer rapid-fire questions, sharing personal anecdotes and their visions for the future of AI in ecological restoration.
Read more for yourself at  Google Scholar. A growing number of articles provide an overview of the current state and potential of AI in ecological restoration, addressing both the technical capabilities and the ethical considerations involved. 
It takes a community to keep a podcast like this going. As an independent show, every contribution makes a difference. If you'd like to support us, you can donate via Paypal and Venmo and Cashapp and your generosity helps cover the small overhead costs of producing the show.
Music from the episode is Lish Grooves

In this episode, we're joined by two extraordinary guests, Seth Zuckerman and Kirk Hansen, who bring decades of experience and insight to the practice of ecological forestry. Their recent book, "A Forest of Your Own," serves as a comprehensive guide for forest stewards in Oregon and Washington, covering essential skills like evaluating land, sustainable management, wildfire risk reduction, and climate change adaptation. Seth and Kirk address the diverse needs of family forest owners, community forests, municipalities, and Indigenous tribes, offering insights on sustainable wood harvest, wildlife habitat enhancement, and watershed protection.
Kirk Hanson is an experienced forest educator and pracitioner, skilled in guiding forest owners to managed their land sustainably. He has worked with a variety of landowners, and also blogs about his own family's experiences managing 200 acres of forestland in the South Puget Sound.
As a journalist, Seth Zuckerman reported extensively on forests, salmon and the human communities that depend on them. He also serves as Executive Director of Northwest Natural Resources Group, and he is author of several books, including Saving Our Ancient Forests and Salmon Nation.
During our conversation, Seth and Kirk discuss how ecological forestry differs from conventional industrial forestry, advocating for practices that prioritize ecosystem health and long-term sustainability. They share personal experiences and insights, highlighting the importance of interventions like thinning to promote forest resilience, especially in the face of climate change. Their book and work aim to empower forest landowners with the knowledge and tools to become responsible stewards of their land, promoting ecological health and resilience for the benefit of both people and the environment.
As we explore the balance between human intervention and natural processes in forest management, Seth and Kirk address common questions and misconceptions about forest management, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach that considers long-term ecological health and diverse benefits for future generations. They highlight the role of ecological diversity in promoting economic resilience and offer practical advice for forest observation and engagement.
A Forest of Your Own book www.nnrg.org/book 
Keeping Up with the Hansons Blog www.nnrg.org/hansonfamilyforest
You can donate to help cover the small overhead for the show. @myadrick via Paypal and Venmo and CashApp. 
Music from the show Stayloose | Gunnar Olson | Cumbia Deli

In this episode, we delve into the world of plant medicines. Our guest, Natalie Hammerquist, a herbalist based in Washington state, shares her extensive knowledge and experience in herbalism and foraging local wild plants. Natalie's journey, rooted in a degree from The Evergreen State College, led her to explore herbalism, plant taxonomy, and food science. Under the guidance of renowned herbalists like Cascade Anderson Geller and Matthew Wood, Natalie integrated aspects of Chinese medicine and Western herbalism into her practice.
What's particularly intriguing about our conversation is Natalie's emphasis on the importance of collaboration between restorationists and herbalists to ensure sustainable caretaking and the preservation of plant resources. Natalie also shares her personal journey into herbalism, shaped by her own health struggles during college, and highlights the diverse approaches within herbalism, blending scientific methodologies with traditional wisdom.
Additionally, Natalie sheds light on the regulatory disparities between the United States and Europe, emphasizing the need for advocacy and education to support herbalism and holistic health practices. She offers insights into her forthcoming book, "Medicinal Plants of the Pacific Northwest," which aims to provide practical guidance and visual aids for identifying medicinal plants, emphasizing the importance of accurate plant identification and ethical harvesting practices.
We dig into topics such as the significance of timing in harvesting, ethical considerations inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer's concept of the Honorable Harvest, and the therapeutic properties of plants like knotweed, blackberry, and hawthorn. Natalie advocates for sustainable harvesting practices that balance the benefits and impacts of these plants, promoting a mindful approach that honors the interconnectedness of all living beings and fosters responsibility for the wider environment.
Adiantum School of Plant Medicine website | Instagram
Medicinal Plants of the Pacific Northwest: A Visual Guide to Harvesting and Healing with 35 Common Species
Natalie will be presenting her new book, "Medicinal Plants of the Pacific Northwest: A Visual Guide to Harvesting and Healing with 35 Common Species," at Third Place Books in Seward Park on Thursday, April 18, 2024, at 7:00pm. https://www.thirdplacebooks.com/event/natalie-hammerquist
Music from this show: John Patitucci | Soy Emilia

This treehugger episode meanders through Ivyland and investigates the extensive properties and uses of ivy, Hedera helix. Ivies (Araliaceae) are a diverse genus of evergreen plants native to regions spanning Europe, across central-southern Asia, and N Africa. Its botanical name is rooted in Latin; Hedera is related to its traditional medicinal uses. Known for its climbing or ground-creeping nature, ivy offers various ecological benefits such as habitat and shelter for wildlife, acts as a late-season food source for pollinators, offers berries for birds, controls soil erosion, regulates microclimates, and contributes to carbon sequestration. Additionally, it has several human benefits, including air purification, aesthetic appeal, thermal regulation, stress reduction, and medicinal uses. The podcast explores ivy's role in herbal remedies, emphasizing its traditional uses in respiratory health, anti-inflammatory properties, skin health, antioxidant effects, and wound healing. 
Then in a detailed conversation, treehugger guest, Toby Query, discusses the complexity of his relationship with ivy. We explore ivy's growth patterns, methods of removal such as mechanical means and herbicides, and concerns about the environmental impact of these methods. The conversation delves into the benefits of ivy, such as supporting wildlife and contributing to soil moisture and the mycorrhizal network. The need for a context-specific approach to ivy management is emphasized, challenging myths and emphasizing the importance of further research. Ultimately, ivy is recognized as a diverse and ecologically important plant with cultural and historical significance.
Toby Query is an ecologist based in Portland, known for his extensive work in the city's Revegetation Program since 1999. He focuses on stewarding natural areas, particularly the Shwah kuk wetlands, in collaboration with Indigenous communities. Toby is also the founder of Portland Ecologists Unite!, a group which created spaces to learn, discuss, and connect over current ecological issues. He holds a certification as a Senior Ecologist from the Ecological Society of America and is an active contributor to The Nature of Cities website. Toby has a passion for mycelial networks and is engaged in learning and teaching about fungi.
peruse the scientific literature on Hedera helix via Google Scholar, new select articles below:
Detommaso, M., Costanzo, V., Nocera, F., & Evola, G. (2023). Evaluation of the cooling potential of a vertical greenery system coupled to a building through an experimentally validated transient model. Building and Environment, 110769.
Lukas, K., Dötterl, S., Ayasse, M., & Burger, H. (2023). Colletes hederae bees are equally attracted by visual and olfactory cues of inconspicuous Hedera helix flowers. Chemoecology, 1-9.
Milliken, W. (2023). Ethnoveterinary data in Britain and Ireland: can native herbal medicine promote animal health?. Ethnobotany Research and Applications, 26, 1-32.
Sax, D. F., Schlaepfer, M. A., & Olden, J. D. (2022). Valuing the contributions of non-native species to people and nature. Trends in ecology & evolution, 37(12), 1058-1066.
Vercruysse, W., Kunnen, K., Gomes, C. L., Marchal, W., Cuypers, A., & Vandamme, D. (2023). Common Ivy (Hedera helix L.) Derived Biochar’s Potential as a Substrate Amendment: Effects of Leached Nutrients on Arabidopsis thaliana Plant Development. Waste and Biomass Valorization, 1-12.
Read Indigenous scholarship!
Wehi, P. M., Kamelamela, K. L., Whyte, K., Watene, K., & Reo, N. (2023). Contribution of Indigenous Peoples' understandings and relational frameworks to invasive alien species management. People and Nature.
It takes a community to keep a podcast going. I am totally independent, and you can donate to help cover the small overhead for the show. @myadrick via Paypal and Venmo and CashApp. Subscribe, rate and review the show please on whichever podcast platform you enjoy listening to. It helps peo

Kyle Flanagan asks us how we can truly address the roots of the climate crisis, and how we can keep each other safe in the years to come—while making sure that no one gets left behind. She wrote Climate Resilience, robust with short essays edited from interviews with 39 individuals who have been cultivating resilience for decades. There is a chapter dedicated to ecological restoration and issues related to river restoration, shifting the framing of environmental injustices, soil health, community composting and good fire. Intersecting with restoration, Kylie and the cohort of climate imaginaries foreground skills required in a warming world - relationship repair, participatory & decentralized economics, collective care, community adaptation, cultural strategy and people power. 
Kylie is a climate communicator and the executive director of a small, climate justice-focused foundation. Originally from Miwok lands in the California Bay Area, she currently resides on Munsee Lenape lands in New York City. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College and received a master’s in sustainability solutions from Presidio Graduate School. Driven by a desire to make the world more delicious, beautiful, joyous, and just, she has dabbled in goat midwifery, cheesemaking, tiny house architecture and construction, supper club hosting, edible landscaping, sustainable business consulting, and most recently, writing Climate Resilience. 
Climate Resilience Project and www.climateresilienceproject.org (that launches in early August).
pre-order the book on bookshop.org
Climate Resilience features voices of Native Rights activists, queer ecologists, Gen-Z organizers, urban farmers, and others on the front lines: Reverend Mariama White-Hammond, Ruth Miller, Niria Alicia, Morgan Curtis, Casey Camp-Horinek, Victoria Montaño, Heather Rosenberg, Cate Mingoya, Didi Pershouse, Ceci Pineda, Margo Robbins, Doria Robinson, Cassia Herron, Marta Ceroni, Crystal Huang, Moji Igun, Deseree Fontenot, Jacqueline Thanh, Janelle St. John, Miriam Belblidia, Lil Milagro Henriquez, Amee Raval, Marcie Roth, Eileen V. Quigley, Natalie Hernandez, Mindy Blank, Chief Shirell Parfait-Dardar, Eve Mosher, Irfana Jetha Noorani, Melissa Reyes, Patty Berne, Selin Nurgun, Sekita Grant, Mara Ventura, Kavaangsaar Afcan, Olivia Juarez, Sona Mohnot, Kailea Frederick, and Dominique Thomas
Michael's podcast recommendations History is Gay & Other Men Need Help
It takes a community to keep a podcast going. I am totally independent, and you can donate to help cover the small overhead costs for the show via Paypal and Venmo and CashApp. 
Music from the show Patiño and TrackTribe

In the early 2020s, many conservation-related organizations seem to have accelerated their promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion as well as reckoning with their racist origins. The University of Puget Sound recently made the decision to remove the name “Slater'' and give back the original name of their natural history museum. Furthermore called Puget Sound Museum of Natural History, the institution calls this out as “an important step in acknowledging the often problematic figures intertwined in natural history museums and ensuring our museum is an inclusive space for all.” My guest on this show, Grace Maria Eberhardt is a PhD student at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign studying the history of science and race. She led the movement to remove the name “Slater” from the Slater Museum of Natural History at the University of Puget Sound, where she earned her B.S. in Biology and African American Studies, and Bioethics emphasis in 2020. 
This episode contains discussion of sterilization, which includes involuntary or coerced removal of a person’s ability to reproduce; murder by police; selective breeding of humans for the improvement of human race; and, genocide.
Puget Sound Museum of Natural History website and @pugetsoundmuseum post about renaming
The History of Eugenics at Puget Sound and Beyond
Chang-Yoo, Albert. University tackles ugly history in Slater Museum renaming. University of Puget Sound’s The Trail. May 13, 2022
Hodder, Sam. “Reckoning with the League Founders’ Eugenics Past.” Save the Redwoods League Blog (2020) 
King 5 News. University of Puget Sound removes name of professor from on-campus museum. May 23, 2023
Miriti, Maria N., Ariel J. Rawson, and Becky Mansfield. "The history of natural history and race: Decolonizing human dimensions of ecology." Ecological Applications 33.1 (2023): e2748.
Wohlforth, Charles. "Conservation and eugenics." Orion Magazine (2010).
Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra. University of Puget Sound to remove name of eugenics professor from museum. Seattle Times. May 19, 2023.
Music from the show TrackTribe & Dyalla