The mission of local ecology is to document landscapes intentionally designed to produce ecosystem services - provide habitat, especially for small, highly mobile species like birds and butterflies; sequester (store) carbon; intercept rainfall and slow runoff; and cool and filter surrounding air - and to promote them as effective strategies to regenerate vacant lots and other dis-invested spaces in cities. I call these landscapes nature-made and the residents who design them, nature makers.
The Web site is written by me, Georgia Silvera Seamans. My interest in the outdoors stems from my childhood in Jamaica where my mother and our neighbors kept gardens and orchards. This passion was rekindled during my junior-year abroad in Botswana. I received a master's degree in environmental management and am a doctoral candidate in Berkeley. I have worked as a community forester with the New Haven Urban Resources Initiative and as an urban forester with the Boston Parks Department. Currently I am a founding partner at Sustainable Pacific Rim Cities and serve as a board member of Berkeley Partners for Parks.
