Culture & Ecology | Stories from the Confluence

Reciprocity is integral to the resilience of cultural and ecological systems. Ironically, sometimes using a natural resource is the best way to ensure its conservation. We speak with Marty St. Louis about his experience stewarding the Summer Lake Wildlife Management area and how wildlife habitat is generated and maintained with the support of hunters.

Over the past several years, urban areas in western states have experienced devastation from wild fire. As fire season approaches again, it is important to question our cultural relationship with fire. In this podcast, we speak with Mark Hedrick, who served nearly twenty years with the Nature Conservancy as Preserve Steward and Fire Manager. His experience managing prescribed burns demonstrates how with cooperation, training and careful planning, fire can be applied to reduce risk of catastrophic fires while improving ecological conditions, even in overgrown and developed areas.

In this podcast, we speak with Rebecca Lawton about how culture, like the earth itself, is constantly being transformed by water. As an author and story-teller, her writing is informed by experience as a Fluvial Geologist and as a professional River Guide. She is an expert on how the world is shaped by water. As an author, her stories tell how water shapes culture. Recently, she was nominated for two book awards.

How is a small company in a conservative rural community leading renewable energy development? The Lake County Resource Initiative (LCRI) addresses social and environmental concerns proactively by  developing and implementing diverse renewable energy programs while bridging deep political, social and cultural divides. Nick Johnson and Emma Gerona of LCRI actively facilitate difficult dialogue, find common language and overcome communication barriers for the economic, ecological and social benefit of all.

Do words have the power to create and shape reality? We speak with poet and story-teller, Kim Stafford, about humanity's relationship to the world,  the cycle of life, regeneration and language. As Poet Laureate of Oregon, Stafford speaks with compassion and authority, raising the question, “who does the poem serve?” He shares original poems about a seed, a tree, darkness, and death, weaving a story of life using the power of words in service to humanity and all our relations.