grove & grit restoration brief January 18, 2026
treehugger podcast
grove & grit launches with local restoration in Hilltop, Dublin Bay oyster recovery, UN World Restoration Flagships, and an ecological reckoning on war, climate, and accountability — plus two essential upcoming reads from Emma Marris and Clare Follmann. This episode is released during the week of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, grounding restoration work in a shared ethic of collective liberation. Local Action (Tacoma) Tacoma Tree Foundation - Green Blocks: Hilltop A neighborhood-based urban forestry program supporting residents with tree selection, permits, delivery, and...
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Forest History with Jennifer Ott
treehugger podcast
What happens when we trace the history of our forests? Not just through trees, but through people, policy, and place? In this episode, I talk with Jennifer Ott, Executive Director of , Washington’s free online encyclopedia of history. Jennifer is an environmental historian, author of Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City, and co-author of Waterway: The Story of Seattle’s Locks and Ship Canal. She brings a deep knowledge of Seattle’s reshaped landscapes; it's filled tidelands, leveled hills, and rechanneled rivers, and a lifelong commitment to accessible public...
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Urban Evolution with Liz Carlen
treehugger podcast
In this episode, Michael talks with evolutionary biologist and urban ecologist Dr. Elizabeth Carlen about how cities - shaped by war, politics, religion, and everything in between - are evolving alongside the wildlife that calls them home. Liz is an urban evolutionary biologist whose research explores how human social structures, from redlining to sacred groves, shape the genetics, behavior, and survival of city-dwelling creatures like squirrels and pigeons. We dive into the often-overlooked ways that social histories leave their mark not just on human communities, but on the DNA of the...
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My Head for a Tree with Martin Goodman
treehugger podcast
In this special episode, we welcome author and storyteller Martin Goodman to explore the extraordinary living story of the Bishnoi people—a community in the Western Thar Desert of India who have made protecting life, in all its forms, their deepest devotion. Three centuries ago, 363 Bishnoi villagers led by Amrita Devi gave their lives to defend the sacred khejri trees from destruction, speaking the words still taught to Bishnoi children today: “My head for a tree is a cheap price to pay.” But the Bishnoi are not just a story of sacrifice from the past—they are still here, still...
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Giants on New Ground with Philip Stielstra
treehugger podcast
We are joined by Philip Stielstra, founder of, to explore the fascinating world of coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) and giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Philip shares his inspiring journey from Seattle Tree Ambassador to becoming a leader in assisted migration, helping these ancient giants find a new future in the Pacific Northwest. We dive into: The unique traits that make coast redwoods and giant sequoias candidates for assisted migration, including their fire resistance, drought tolerance, and pest resistance. Challenges such as slow seed...
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A Natural History of Empty Lots with Christopher Brown
treehugger podcast
treehugger podcast is 5 years old this month! In this episode, we sit down with Christopher Brown, author of A Natural History of Empty Lots, to uncover the stories hidden in the overlooked spaces of our cities. Christopher shares his unique perspective on urban landscapes—vacant lots, overgrown alleys, and forgotten corners—revealing the vibrant ecosystems and cultural narratives thriving within them. Drawing on his experience as a speculative fiction writer, he challenges us to rethink the value of these unintentional landscapes and their role in shaping our connection to the wider...
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Ecosystem Monitoring with Dylan Mendenhall
treehugger podcast
In this podcast episode, the discussion dives into the complexities and nuances of ecosystem monitoring, led by the Dylan Mendenhall's deep experience and passion for the field. He emphasizes the importance of well-defined questions to drive high-quality monitoring efforts, contrasting effective monitoring with what they term “zombie monitoring”—data collection that continues without purpose due to sunk cost fallacies or lack of clear objectives. The conversation spans from traditional techniques like plot-based sampling and transect surveys to advanced molecular methods like eDNA, which...
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medicinal weeds: rethinking integrated pest management
treehugger podcast
We explore a fresh perspective on non-native and introduced species. Traditionally viewed as pests or threats to ecosystems, some of these species offer hidden benefits that are often overlooked in conventional pest management frameworks. We dive into the complexities of integrated pest management (IPM), discussing the importance of balancing ecological restoration with justice, health, and livelihoods. This episode was adapted from a talk originally given to an audience focused on integrated pest management. It encourages listeners to rethink the language we use around non-native species,...
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Seed Banks and Ecological Memory
treehugger podcast
Underground seed banks, passive restoration, and ecological memory - these elements are crucial in understanding and facilitating natural recovery processes in ecosystems. We'll explore how leveraging underground seed banks, which contain dormant seeds waiting for the right conditions to germinate, can support native plant regeneration. This approach is relational, often less expensive, and informs a long-range view. It also relies on the ecological memory, which refers to an ecosystem's ability to retain information about past states and disturbances, aiding its recovery and resilience....
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Artificial Intelligence and Ecological Restoration with Sam Woodrich and Timothy Pape
treehugger podcast
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...
info_outlineDisrupted by enclosure of the commons and colonialism, people have had a relationship with trees via coppice and pollard for eons. This is the show where we discuss the role moditional “modern” + “traditional” methods play in ecological restoration. The methods we talk about on this episode are known as live staking, coppicing and pollarding.
My guest on this episode is Alex Slakie who is a restoration ecologist, botanist, and herbalist. He currently resides on the shared lands of the Cascades, Clackamas, Wasco, Multnomah, and Chinook peoples in Corbett, Oregon. Alex is the head of Flora Northwest LLC, a business that supplies willow live stakes and seeds for salmon habitat projects, sustainably harvested wild medicinal plants for herbal companies, and interesting nursery plants for home gardeners. He grows and wild-tends willow coppices and stands of medicinal plants in the western Columbia River Gorge.
Find Flora NW online at www.floranw.com and on Instagram @floranorthwest
Alex studied ecology and sustainable agriculture at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. He became deeply interested in botany and restoration ecology while doing a work-study program at the Sound Native Plants nursery and has been following that pathway ever since. 15 years later, Alex is still wild-tending willow coppices for live stake production and is passionate about this almost lost art of forest management.
On a book recommendation from Alex, I picked up William Bryant Logan’s Sproutlands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees. Logan explains it by saying “From ten millennia to about two hundred years ago, every person in every forested part of the world would have known exactly what we mean by “coppice and pollard.” The idea is simple: when you break, burn or cut low the trunks of almost any leafy tree or shrub, it will sprout again. New branches will emerge from behind the bases, either from buds that were dormant, waiting for their cue to grow, or from twigs newly formed by the cambium.”
Enclosure has a role to play in this story too. Over the course of several centuries, much of Europe’s land was privatized. That is to say taken out of some form of collective ownership and management known as the “commons” and handed over to individuals = turned into capital. Grippingly, William Bryant Logan holds space for this in his Sproutlands book. He depicts how much of the English commons was in coppice and pollard when the crown and wealthy landowners began to enclose lands as early as the 14th century. Of course, this system was exported around the world in a variety of forms of colonialism. With it, we have lost some of art, culture and political ecology of coppice and pollard as well as the relationship we had with the land.
A Short History of Enclosure in Britain in The Land: An Occasional Magazine about Land Rights. Summer 2009
The Tragedy of the Tragedy of the Commons by Matto Mildenberger in Scientific American April 23, 2019
Editing for this episode provided by the wonderful Katie Dunn
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