Michelle Stevens

Background

About Michelle Stevens

My background and training include wetlands ecology, restoration ecology and ethnoecology. My doctoral dissertation research included the restoration and ethnoecology of white root (Carex barbarae), a plant very important to California Indian basketweavers as well as a riparian understory plant important for restoration. My initial research familiarized me with the Cosumnes River and Sacramento-San Joaquin landscape, as well as enabling me to become part of the local Caliifornia Indian communities. Since 2002, I have used this wetlands restoration and ethnoecology background to work on the eco-cultural restoration of the Mesopotamian Marshes. Establishment of a non-profit corporation Hima Mesopotamia has enabled me to create a diverse international scientific network to facilitate cooperative research throughout the Tigris Euphrates watershed. I am interested in working with wetland assessment, conservation and restoration on a statewide and international scale. Traditional Ecological Knowledge is a system of understanding that includes honoring the reciprocal relationships between people and the land, nurturing that integral relationship, and honoring the profound connection and sustainable development between individual cultures and their specific landscape. I love teaching and connecting students to their own voice and relationship to ecology and restoration. I love writing about nature. I have a Peace Garden in my backyard with native plants for pollinators (and kitties to unfortunately eat the pollinators but not the squirrels).