Welcome

We're a small research and outreach program dedicated to exploring the on-going conversation between human culture and the rural, semi-agricultural landscape of Columbia County. By describing the past and present consequences of human activity for the landscape, we listen to how the land has responded to our actions. By describing how human culture has lived and now lives upon the land, we try to understand the formative touch of the land on society.

Our goal is to encourage a compassionate public understanding of this continuing dialogue, and then, building on that compassion and knowledge, to facilitate the cultural and ecological relationships which support a healthy, productive future for the County. We are two ecologists and a cultural anthropologist. Specifically, we do the following:

• Portray and engage with those aspects of society involved in living from and with the land; and, particularly, collaborate with local farming as the profession most actively and explicitly working at the interface of people and the living earth. For example, we map the County food system and collaborate with various others working on related issues; we conduct fun, participatory public surveys to understand and share perceptions of our food and natural environments; we facilitate farmer exploration of their shared agricultural concerns.
• Conduct and share local studies of current and historical ecology as a way of gaining practical knowledge of the land's behavior in the face of human influence. For example, we create habitat maps of various pieces of land; we study the ecology of ponds, floodplain forests, and farm fields; we describe long-term changes in the County flora; and we lead regular public explorations of lands around the County.
• Explore the interactions of regional agriculture, larger landscape context, and wild nature so as to build their potential for harmony. For example, we study the two-way interaction of farmland production and on-farm nature, write and speak about historical interactions between farming and landscape, and trace the ecological connections between farms and their surroundings.

We invite you to join in this exploration by browsing the multi-faceted and detailed information offered on our website and by following our local natural history blog. You may notice that in the coming months we'll be going through a website re-design process, but don't worry - we'll be updating and maintaining all of the information as we go.

We also invite you to take advantage of our public programs, internships and volunteer opportunities, informal conversations during weekly pizza night (open to all every Thursday, 5 to 8 pm), and to contact us directly with any questions relating to natural history, agriculture, and the food system in Columbia County.

We look forward to exploring the nature and culture of Columbia County together.

The Local Ecology of Human Nature,
The Local Nature of Human Ecology