Long-Term Ecological Reflections program – A decade of humanities-science collaboration at Andrews Forest LTER

Background/Question/Methods

Since decisions about how to protect biodiversity, address climate destabilization, and use natural resources wisely are among the most complicated and critical that we must make, it is essential to consult many kinds of knowledge in our decision making. The Long-Term Ecological Reflections program was created to explore ways in which science—with its hypothesis testing, data collection, and computer modeling—and reflective thought—with its emphasis on narrative, imagery, and intuition—can speak to one another in ways that amplify our understanding.  Since its inception in 2002, LTEReflections has hosted writers' residencies and other programs at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the Oregon Cascades. Each writer visits three ‘reflections plots,’ places of significant ecological and scientific importance within the forest., and contribute writings to a ‘data bank’ of creative responses, The Forest Log, an on-line journal of poems, essays, articles and other creative reflections on the Forest. LTEReflections also has convened field symposia at the Andrews Forest and on Mount St. Helens, gathering scientists, creative writers, philosophers and others to address such topics as the meaning of “restoration,” or the implications of catastrophe and renewal in a volcanic landscape.  Long-Term Ecological Reflections is a collaboration among the Andrews Forest Long-Term Ecological Research group; the Forest Service; and the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature and the Written Word at Oregon State University.

Results/Conclusions

The interactions among scientists, creative writers and philosophers have fostered fresh inquiries into the inherently metaphorical terminology by which science is communicated, the ways professional land managers can include literary and visual arts in engaging the public, and differences and commonalities between scientific and artistic ways of knowing, among other topics. The program was profiled in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. A book with contributions by nationally known ecologists, creative writers, and others, In the Blast Zone: Catastrophe and Renewal on Mount St. Helens was published by Oregon State University Press in 2008.  Essays and poems from the residency program have been published widely in nationally recognized journals including The Atlantic and Orion. From the beginning, we have intended this work to serve as a model to encourage other sites to begin analogous interdisciplinary programs. The interactions among such sites have resulted in the creation of collaborative programs and an EcologicalReflections website.