climate ~ feels ~ change

Which tree species impacted by climate change are we getting nervous about? This is the episode where we talk about climate disruption, our anxiety & grief as witnesses to tree loss while also coming to terms with environmental change in discussion with a few members of the Forest Adaptation Network.

Rowan Braybrook is the Director of Programs for Northwest Natural Resource Group, an ecological forestry nonprofit based in Seattle. She started her career in northern Madagascar as a Peace Corps volunteer, working with communities on sustainable agriculture and environmental education. She then relocated to Washington, DC to work with Conservation International on field program management and international environmental policy before moving back home to the Pacific Northwest. Rowan holds a B.A. from Middlebury College and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University.

Jake Bentzen Biological Science Technician (Insects & Disease) Forest Service Northern & Intermountain Regions Forest Health Protection. Jacob was a graduate student advised by Dr. Patrick Tobin, at the School of Environmental of Forest Sciences, at the University of Washington. He defended his thesis on bigleaf maple decline and graduated in December 2018. He is currently a Biological Technician with the US Forest Service, Forest Health Protection, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

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. He now leads the Forest Health Watch.

Brandon Drucker is a Grit City resident and Restoration Ecologist with the City of Tacoma Passive Open Space Program. His current focus is urban natural areas, associated plants and peoples. He cares and thinks much about stormwater and climate change adaptation. Brandon is energized by seedlings, herpetofauna, paddling, climbing, gains in desirable plant cover, and good-humored Conservation Corps crew members.

“Change is constant. You can’t stop change, control change, or perfectly plan change. You can ride the waves of change, partner with change, and shape change. Adaptation is long term or structural change in a creature or system to account for a need for survival. Adaptation is not about being reactionary, changing without intention, or being victimized, controlled and tossed around by the inevitable changes of life. It’s about shaping change and letting changes make us stronger as individual and collective bodies. How do we get relaxed and intentional in the face of change?

Adaptation is a way our systems make sense of all that we’re feeling…. Adaptations are guided by what we can feel, in ourselves and in relationship to others. Birds murmurate through the sky according to no schematic – they feel each other and shift together. If plans aren’t informed by feeling, they will inevitably end up inhumane, out of right relationship with the planet….”

- adrienne maree brown from Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation

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

Forest Health Watch https://foresthealth.org

Betzen, J. J., Ramsey, A., Omdal, D., Ettl, G. J., & Tobin, P. C. (2021). Bigleaf maple, Acer macrophyllum Pursh, decline in western Washington, USA. Forest Ecology and Management, 501, 119681.

Michelle Ma. (2021, September 30). Bigleaf maple decline tied to hotter, drier summers in Washington. UW News. https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/09/30/bigleaf-maple-decline-tied-to-hotter-drier-summers-in-washington

Lynda V. Mapes. (2021, July 11). Newly discovered fungus spores spurred by heat and drought are killing Seattle street trees. Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/newly-discovered-fungus-spores-spurred-by-heat-and-drought-are-killing-seattle-street-trees

University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (2020, October 23). Culturally competent approaches in conservation biology: A case study presented by the Washington Cascade Fisher Reintroduction. Presented by Tara Chestnut. Streamed live and recorded on YouTube. https://youtu.be/6dzSglgAeq4?t=1210

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