{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Forest History with Jennifer Ott","description":"What happens when we trace the history of our forests? Not just through trees, but through people, policy, and place? In this episode, I talk with Jennifer Ott, Executive Director of HistoryLink.org, Washington\u2019s free online encyclopedia of history. Jennifer is an environmental historian, author of Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City, and co-author of Waterway: The Story of Seattle\u2019s Locks and Ship Canal. She brings a deep knowledge of Seattle\u2019s reshaped landscapes; it's filled tidelands, leveled hills, and rechanneled rivers, and a lifelong commitment to accessible public history. We dig into HistoryLink\u2019s new Forest History Project, a wide-ranging effort to tell the story of Washington\u2019s forests through essays, oral histories, and educational curricula. Funded by the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, the project includes over a dozen new feature essays - from Indigenous land stewardship to timber company towns, the Douglas fir to the Northwest Forest Plan - as well as 15 interviews with key figures from forestry, conservation, and tribal leadership. We talk about the relationship between ecological change and historical narrative, the legacies of environmental thinkers, and how public history can shape our understanding of climate adaptation, land stewardship, and just futures. This conversation is a reminder that forests are more than trees; they\u2019re stories, struggles, and visions of what\u2019s possible. Resources and Links Forest History Project (HistoryLink): https:\/\/historylink.org\/File\/23334 Learn more about Jennifer Ott\u2019s work  Olmsted in Seattle: Creating A Park System for a Modern City Seattle at 150: Stories of the City Through 150 Objects Waterway: The Story of Seattle\u2019s Locks and Ship Canal This episode features music from The Grey Room \/ Golden Palms. Find more at: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCoOTOoAbEhY-WD_XhkvJBJg Upcoming Event: Plants as Teachers I\u2019ll be giving a talk on January 28, called Plants as Teachers, Messengers and Climate Partners: Habitat Care and Adaptation in a Warming World,  hosted by Tacoma Tree Foundation. As climate change reshapes our ecosystems, ecological restorationist Michael Yadrick invites us to rethink so-called \u201cweeds\u201d as allies in adaptation, revealing how plants respond to stress, guide our land care decisions, and help us imagine better futures. Register here: https:\/\/tacomatreefoundation.org\/calendar\/plants-as-teachers Support the Podcast + Connect Treehugger Podcast is a labor of love. If you\u2019d like to help me cover costs and keep episodes like this one flowing, you can support the show here: Venmo: @myadrickPayPal: paypal.me\/myadrickCashApp: $michaelyadrickjr ","author_name":"treehugger podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/www.treehuggerpod.com\/","html":"