treehugger podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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.

Tacoma Tree Foundation - Green Blocks: Hilltop
A neighborhood-based urban forestry program supporting residents with tree selection, permits, delivery, and planting assistance.
🔗 https://tacomatreefoundation.org/green-blocks

January 28 Webinar  - "Plants as Teachers, Messengers & Climate Partners"
A Tacoma Tree Foundation webinar with Michael Yadrick on habitat care as climate adaptation and what plants reveal about heat, water, and future conditions.
🗓 January 28, 2026 | 12–1 PM (PT)
🔗 https://tacomatreefoundation.org/calendar/plants-as-teachers 

Dublin Bay Oyster Reef Restoration (Ireland)
The Green Ocean Foundation is restoring European flat oyster reefs in Dún Laoghaire Harbour using broodstock baskets, volunteer maintenance, and scientific monitoring with Dublin City University.
🔗 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/18/dublin-bay-oyster-reefs-restoration

UN World Restoration Flagships
UNEP and FAO recognition of large-scale restoration initiatives anchored in Indigenous and local leadership, including shellfish reef recovery in Australia under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
🔗 https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/indigenous-and-local-action-brings-back-nature-un-recognizes-three
🔗 https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/world-restoration-flagships

Environmental reporting and analysis on how war damages soil, water, air, food systems, and long-term restoration capacity, with emerging efforts to document harm for accountability and repair.

International Committee of the Red Cross — Environmental damage and armed conflict
🔗 https://international-review.icrc.org/articles/protection-natural-environment-time-armed-conflict  

UNEP — Environmental risks and devastation in Gaza
🔗 https://www.unep.org/resources/report/environmental-impact-escalation-conflict-gaza-strip  

Environmental Law Institute — Environmental damage in Ukraine and paths to accountability
🔗 https://www.eli.org/vibrant-environment-blog/preventing-environmental-exploitation-armed-conflict-how-ukraine

Emma Marris et al. — "Many Pasts, Many Futures" (forthcoming)
A future-oriented exploration of species reshuffling, conservation values, and how restoration can prevent extinctions without clinging to a single ecological past.
🔗 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/0BE558C6B4F353F4AC57E596205C3ABF

Clare Follmann — Scapegoat: What the Invasive Species Story Gets Wrong (AK Press, forthcoming)
A sharp critique of invasive species narratives and how ecological fear stories can obscure deeper political and economic drivers of harm.
🔗 https://www.akpress.org/scapegoat.html

Music for this episode is from Grey Room "Down the Rabbit Hole" found on YouTube Audio Library.

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 HistoryLink.org, 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 history.

We dig into HistoryLink's new Forest History Project, a wide-ranging effort to tell the story of Washington's forests through essays, oral histories, and educational curricula. Funded by the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, the project includes over a dozen new feature essays - from Indigenous land stewardship to timber company towns, the Douglas fir to the Northwest Forest Plan - as well as 15 interviews with key figures from forestry, conservation, and tribal leadership.

We talk about the relationship between ecological change and historical narrative, the legacies of environmental thinkers, and how public history can shape our understanding of climate adaptation, land stewardship, and just futures. This conversation is a reminder that forests are more than trees; they're stories, struggles, and visions of what's possible.

Forest History Project (HistoryLink):
https://historylink.org/File/23334

Learn more about Jennifer Ott's work 
Olmsted in Seattle: Creating A Park System for a Modern City
Seattle at 150: Stories of the City Through 150 Objects
Waterway: The Story of Seattle's Locks and Ship Canal

This episode features music from The Grey Room / Golden Palms. Find more at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOTOoAbEhY-WD_XhkvJBJg

Upcoming Event: Plants as Teachers

I'll be giving a talk on January 28, called Plants as Teachers, Messengers and Climate Partners: Habitat Care and Adaptation in a Warming World,  hosted by Tacoma Tree Foundation. As climate change reshapes our ecosystems, ecological restorationist Michael Yadrick invites us to rethink so-called "weeds" as allies in adaptation, revealing how plants respond to stress, guide our land care decisions, and help us imagine better futures. Register here:
https://tacomatreefoundation.org/calendar/plants-as-teachers

Treehugger Podcast is a labor of love. If you'd like to help me cover costs and keep episodes like this one flowing, you can support the show here:

Venmo: @myadrick
PayPal: paypal.me/myadrick
CashApp: $michaelyadrickjr

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 people find the show. Or tell a friend about the show.

Music for this episode is from John Patitucci and TrackTribe

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

Despite rapid environmental change, the foremost approach to ecological restoration is to find the elusive, historically-appropriate reference ecosystem as the target of ecosystem recovery. But, the emergence of novel ecosystems beckons new ecological science and political ecology as surprising species' relationships flourish out of dramatic anthropogenic change. There has been (maybe there still is) a debate within ecological restoration about both the existence of and how to restore ecosystems that some people think have crossed thresholds with no historical analog. Ecosystems that have 'tipped' or exhibit 'new' nature challenge our training and ecological theories while eliciting perspectives on what we value and respect, such as biodiversity and access.

Mel PIneda-Pinto explores  nature-based solutions, with a particular focus on issues of justice in ecosystems often overlooked and found in interstitial spaces, sometimes characterized as ruderal, wild, wastelands or unintentional. She is currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow at Trinity College Dublin on the project NovelEco in which they are co-designing an online citizen science tool to better understand novel ecosystems in cities. Mel has experience in social research methods, inter-transdisciplinary collaboration, systems thinking and exploring human-nonhuman nature interactions. Previous architectural and planning experience in the industry and not-for-profit sectors gave her skills in design, project management, stakeholder engagement, and technical abilities. Her research interests include urban ecological sustainability, urban ecology, social-ecological-technical systems, environmental and ecological justice, transformative capacity, sustainability, climate and just transitions, environmental and multispecies planning/design. 

Connect with Novel Eco https://noveleco.eu and on Twitter @NovelEco 

Pineda-Pinto, Melissa, et al. "Finding justice in wild, novel ecosystems: A review through a multispecies lens." Urban Forestry & Urban Greening (2023): 127902.

Gandy, Matthew. "Unintentional landscapes." Landscape Research 41.4 (2016): 433-440.

Hobbs, Richard J., et al. "Novel ecosystems: theoretical and management aspects of the new ecological world order." Global ecology and biogeography 15.1 (2006): 1-7.

Kowarika, I. "Novel urban ecosystems, biodiversity, and conservation." Environmental Pollution 159.8/9 (2011): 1974-1983.

Music from the show Quincas Moreira, Slynk, and TrackTribe

Renata Poulton Kamakura reminds us of the importance of nearby nature and the power in community that orbits around urban ecology. Renata is a PhD student at Duke University's Clark Lab, a NatureNet science fellow, and a NSF Graduate Research Fellow.

Renata's current work is mostly within the realm of urban ecology. They have authored and collaborated on published research focused on the pace of tree migration and invasion in tallgrass prairies. Also, tree fecundity related size and age as well as indirect climate effects. Long story short, I also know Renata because they have some insights on phenology, growth, mortality and local adaptation of Pacific madrone. I cherish their contribution to the body of thought about madrone as well as their efforts at applying emergent strategy and expanding the possibilities for healthier urban forests in community with our neighbors.

More about Renata and their current research on Duke University website https://sites.duke.edu/renatakamakura

Kamakura, R. P., DeWald, L. E., Sniezko, R. A., Elliott, M., & Chastagner, G. A. (2021). Using differences in abiotic factors between seed origin and common garden sites to predict performance of Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii Pursh). Forest Ecology and Management, 497, 119487. 

From treating ash trees to neighborhood outreach to petitions, residents rally to protect the urban forest. Chicago Tribune. June 12th, 2022.

'Urban areas are stressful': Ecologist shares how to help trees thrive amid city life. Spectrum News. March 23, 2022.

The reimagine restoration store is now up! https://treehuggerpod.creator-spring.com | enter code REIMAGINE for 10% off until end of January 2023

It takes a community to keep a podcast going. Donate to the show @myadrick via Paypal and Venmo and CashApp

The music for the show you heard from Gunnar Olsen, Riot, MK2l, and Bad Snacks

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

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Some species walk into our spaces, uninvited – they don't belong. They can be trees we bring from the homeland to plant, insects that show up through international trade, or fish we stock for sustenance. However, when they liberate themselves from cultivation, they are portrayed as a potential threat to the economy or even challenge our conceptions of wild nature.

This is a short presentation recorded in advance of the Partners in Community Forestry Conference that came to Seattle, hosted by Arbor Day Foundation.

There is a growing underflow of writing and thought surfacing that grinds against the dominant thinking about how we not only talk about, but treat, our more than human relations. The words we use express our values, and are a portal to change how we treat the trees we do not think belong in our Landscapes. Organizing around "Just Language" is key first step to applying a lens of love, compassion and harm reduction to the practice of ecological restoration. The invitation is "What is the role for invasive species and what might they have to share for us?"

Weekend Update: A Spotted Lanternfly on Being an Invasive Species - SNL https://youtu.be/K_x4soinsRQ

Arbor Day Foundation Video of Just Language About "Invasive" Species Presentation

Just Language in Ecology Education https://justlanguage.org

It takes a community to keep a podcast going. Donate to the show @myadrick via Paypal and Venmo and CashApp

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

Review treehugger podcast on iTunes