Episode 004 - Dr. Daniela Shebitz on Traditional Land Management and Nature Connection

This episode is with Dr. Daniela Shebitz, an awesomely engaged and inspiring young professor at Kean University in New Jersey.

Daniela is a plant ecologist who researches the effects of land management on culturally significant plant species and ecosystems. She is inspired by traditions that have lasted for millennia based on traditional management through anthropogenic fire and selective harvesting.

I love the way Daniela braids together ethnobotany, ecology, anthropology, and restoration. In this conversation, we talk about Daniela's research with Robin Kimmerer on Sweetgrass, about "traditional land management" and "traditional ecological knowledge" in the Northeast and in Costa Rica, about monocrop agriculture and alternatives found in traditional cultures, and about urban people finding nature connection.

Dear listener... Partway into the interview, the wind really picks up and there are some noisy moments. I hope you don't find it too distracting. I've been enjoying doing these interviews outdoors, but I will switch to indoors in the future...

This podcast is brought to you by Wild Ridge Plants. We started Wild Ridge to offer a toolkit for the restoration of native plant communities, including a native plant nursery, botanical surveys and stewardship planning, as well as classes, hikes, presentations and publications. Check us out online at wildridgeplants.com

Thanks for all the feedback, questions, and comments, and for the iTunes ratings too. Please keep it coming, and give me a holler at jared@wildridgeplants.com

This podcast is also a platform for me to play some music I've written over the years. This episode features a new piece on solo acoustic guitar called Moth Wings. I find it fairly melancholy and wasn't sure about including it, but the temperatures are dropping, the days are darkening, and it just seemed to fit. I think Daniela's energy and enthusiasm will more than make up for a twinge of quiet sadness in the music.

Listen below, find this episode on Spotify.or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

all music by Jared Rosenbaum.