Luminaries: Fred Swanson on Robert Michael Pyle's essay "The Long Haul"

Spring Creek Podcast

Today’s “Luminaries” guest is Fred Swanson, a former research geologist with the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, and a Senior Fellow of the Spring Creek Project. He is co-editor of the books “Forest Under Story: Creative Inquiry in an Old-Growth Forest” and “In the Blast Zone: Catastrophe and Renewal on Mount St. Helens.” Fred has a deep history with the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon’s Cascade Range as both a scientist who has studied this place for decades and a supporter of the Long-Term Ecological Reflections program that has hosted more than 120 writers and artists in residence at the Andrews Forest.

During this episode, Fred shares how Robert Michael Pyle’s essay “The Long Haul” gave him a new perspective on his own role as a researcher and on the importance of taking the long view. Robert Michael Pyle is the author of nearly 30 books of prose and poetry. He is also a conservation biologist, butterfly expert, Guggenheim Fellow and one of the first writers-in-residence at the Andrews Forest. “The Long Haul” was an early contribution to the Long-term Ecological Reflections program, which is designed to last for 200 years, or approximately seven generations of human lives but only a quarter of the lifetime of the oldest red cedars.

“Luminaries” is produced by the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University. This series invites people to share stories about writing and art that illuminates their environmental thinking or work.