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    "text": "RESEARCH / BIBLIOGRAPHY"
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    "text": "LINKING PERSPECTIVES"
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    "text": "Name Choice\nWhy did we chose the name for this website?\n\n\nPurpose\nMaybe we want a little section on what the website is here too? A bit longer than the subtitle above.\n\n\nOur Team\n\nDr. Alicia Foxx (she/her)\nChicago Botanic Gardens & Northwestern University\nWebsite | Publications\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI am a child of the Black community, and I believe in respect, reciprocity, community and support, among other things. I work to bring equity, inclusion, accessibility, and social justice for historically minoritized people including Black, Indigenous, Latine, and other People of Color. My aim is to ensure that we all have a seat at the proverbial table, because it is the right thing to do. By training, I am a plant ecologist and I study how variation in plant traits influences how plants interact with each other, with their environment, and with microbes. A large part of my research is related to applications in restoration science and practice and I incorporate experimental research and synthesis to interrogate and improve our understanding of plants and their secrets.\n\n\n\n\nDr. Becky Barak\nNorthwestern University\nWebsite | Publications | ResearchGate\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Becky Barak information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information information .\n\n\n\nRegina Mae Francia (pronouns)\nAffiliation\n\n\n\n\n\nSarah Hollis (pronouns)\nAffiliation\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Holly Jones (she/her)\nNorthern Illinois University\nWebsite | Publications | Twitter\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Jones is a Professor at Northern Illinois University. Her Evidence-based Restoration Lab studies how ecosystems recover from disturbances and the best ways to restore ecosystems. Her field work has taken her to far-flung islands in the Aleutians and she has current research projects on New Zealand islands and at Nachusa Grasslands in Franklin Grove, Ill.\n\n\n\nEva Murillo (pronouns)\nAffiliation\n\n\n\n\n\nAmelia Renner (she/her)\nChicago Botanic Gardens\nLinkedIn\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAmelia Renner is a recent graduate of Macalester College. She majored in biology and minored in data science. Her research interests include urban ecology, non-native plant invasion, and restoration ecology. Her current research focuses on the impact of deer on Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) invasion in Minnesota mesic oak forests.\n\n\n\nSamantha Rosa (pronouns)\nAffiliation\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Evelyn W. Williams (she/her)\nAdaptive Restoration LLC\nLinkedIn | Publications\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvelyn is a restoration ecologist with a background in conservation genetics. Evelyn first got a taste of natural resource management working at Itasca State Park in Minnesota and as a student at Carleton College working in the Cowling Arboretum. She received her Ph.D. in Botany at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she studied fern genetics and demography in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Following that, she worked at the Chicago Botanic Garden on diverse conservation projects, including studying the importance of evolutionary diversity in prairie restorations. She now works for Adaptive Restoration in Mount Horeb, WI, as a restoration ecologist and member of the fire crew."
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    "title": "About",
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    "text": "About this site\n\n\nCode\n1 + 1\n\n\n[1] 2"
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    "text": "NETWORK MEMBERS"
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    "text": "An important goal of the Black Earth Restoration Collective is to create a navigable index of of tallgrass prairie restoration data to assist ecologists in making decisions about these ecosystems. Once completed, the index will be available at this link.\nAdditionally, Samantha Rosa is leading the effort to craft a curriculum library composed of a rich variety of open education resources that will support the inclusion of BIPOC ecological knowledge into K-12 life science classrooms."
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    "text": "We plan to gather a group of BERC affiliates together in 2024. Our purpose is to discuss ways to connect, collaborate, share and listen with each other, strengthen ties, and build new ones. We will meet at Chicago Botanic Garden and talk about shared goals for the group, potential for growing it, and take some local field trips."
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    "text": "The perspective piece “Shifting dynamics in restoration ecology: Concrete steps towards centering Black, Indigenous, and People of Color’s communities and perspectives” written by the founding members is currently under peer review. When it is available, it can be found using the citation below.\n\nRosa, S., Hollis, S., Francia, R. M., Renner, A., Johnson, N., Barak, R. S., Jones, H. P., Williams, E. W., & Foxx, A. J. (2024). Shifting dynamics in restoration ecology: Concrete steps towards centering black, indigenous, and people of Color’s communities and perspectives. Ecological Solutions and Evidence, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12345"
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    "text": "Black Earth Restoration Collective (BERC) is a collective of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) working closely with plants.\n\nWe chose to include “Black” in the name to celebrate Blackness and Brownness, and to ensure our collective’s mission to celebrate and uphold BIPOC is clear. We use “Earth” to acknowledge our diverse connections to land. We chose to call this a collective because we aim to create a living, breathing community for BIPOC to engage, discuss, support, collaborate, celebrate, and offer opportunities to connect online and in-person.\n\nWe take a respectful approach to engagement and use transparency to the collective that maintains members’ agency by making collective decisions and discussions on (e.g., information usage and sharing, and collaboration.\n\nBERC welcomes white allies who will respectfully engage in community.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n     \n\nThis work was conducted on the ancestral homelands of the Council of Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi tribes. We share and celebrate the historic and contemporary ties of local Indigenous people as well as acknowledge the labour and knowledge of Black and Latine people who have shaped land and restoration here.\n\n     \n\nBERC is a project of the Synthesis Center for Conservation and Restoration (sCORE) of the Chicago Botanic Garden."
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    "text": "About BERC\n\nWe recognize that knowledge exists in many forms that has value in BIPOC communities and does not always conform to white and Western standards and practices.\nUltimately, the lack of collaboration and diversity in restoration practice, agricultural practice, and academics means valuable knowledge and skills are excluded and the needs of BIPOC community members aren’t considered or met.\nWe intend to cultivate this collective to center BIPOC perspectives, and to be a place for members to engage, discuss, support, and collaborate on topics in restoration and related topics (agriculture, plant-related research, sustainability, and ways these areas affect BIPOC communities).\nWe hope to build strong communities with members and facilitate collaborations\nWe share community rules of engagement below, woven around sweetgrass, and call on all members to engage respectfully and equitably. BERC is not a service to add a token BIPOC onto a team and give little autonomy or input. Members must be robustly and transparently engaged in collaborations and decisions."
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    "text": "Who: Individuals and Organizations\nBlack Earth Restoration Collective welcomes anyone working closely with plants, and tied into restoration or land management broadly (e.g., restoration practitioners, stewards, urban farmers, sustainability practitioners, academics, etc.).\nBERC welcomes white and non-BIPOC allies who would like to support its mission. \n\n\nMember Expectations and Code of Conduct\nThe BERC Code of Conduct is available here. Any violations to the Code can be reported using this form.\nIf you have any questions or would like to get in touch with the Black Earth Restoration Collective, please feel free to email us at blackearthrestoration [at] gmail [dot] com.\n\n\n\n\n\nWe acknowledge that not all information is meant to be shared with everyone and as such, are mindful of protecting the knowledge and personal information of our collective members. New members are not automatically featured on our website. If you are a member of the Black Earth Restoration Collective and would like to be featured on our members page or update your currently featured information, please email the following with the subject line “Information for Members Page: (Your Name)” to blackearthrestoration [at] gmail [dot] com:\n\nName & Pronouns\nTitle & Affiliation(s)\nEmail or other preferred method of contact, link to personal website/social media, etc.\nHeadshot"
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    "text": "The ecological knowledge of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) can consist of holistic practices that preserve cultural knowledge while simultaneously addressing environmental issues. This knowledge is often place-based and acquired collectively through generations via oral histories, artistry, and relationships. In order to work against the historic exclusion of BIPOC knowledge from academic spaces and restoration decision-making, we have crafted this working resource of published literature with the goal of making rich sources of knowledge from BIPOC communities more visible. We aim to actively cultivate this space to highlight the historic and ongoing contributions of BIPOC communities to the fields of land and resource stewardship and restoration.\nIf you would like to contribute a work that addresses BIPOC contribution to restoration knowledge and/or research works around the topic of BIPOC knowledge in restoration to the bibliography, please submit your work at this link. Once approved, it will published to the literature log embedded below."
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    "text": "The establishing board of BERC is composed of the original nine founding members of BERC.\nCurrent Board Members\n\nDr. Nia Johnson\nDr. Alicia Foxx\nDr. Becky Barak\nRegina Mae Francia\nSarah Hollis\nDr. Holly Jones\nAmelia Renner\nSamantha Rosa-Turner\nDr. Evelyn W. Williams\n\nThe founding bylaws of BERC are available here."
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    "text": "Our Team & Board Members\nThe establishing board of BERC is composed of the original nine founding members of BERC. The bylaws of BERC are available for viewing here.\n\nDr. Nia Johnson (she/her)\nChicago Botanic Garden & Northwestern University\nWebsite\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI am originally from Atlanta, GA and earned my B.S. from Howard University. After teaching grade school science with Teach for America, I earned my M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology where my research focused on understanding the impacts of modern agricultural practices on the eco-evolutionary dynamics of plant-herbivore interactions and plant defense. Currently, as a Postdoctoral Researcher affiliated with the Synthesis Center for Conservation and Restoration (sCORE) at the Chicago Botanic Garden, I collaborate within interdisciplinary teams to carry out projects focused on plant restoration. My personal and professional interests stand at the intersection of education, research, and advocacy, driven by a commitment to diversity and inclusion in the scientific community.\n\n\n\n\nDr. Alicia Foxx (she/her)\nChicago Botanic Garden & Northwestern University\nWebsite | Publications\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI am a child of the Black community, and I believe in respect, reciprocity, community and support, among other things. I work to bring equity, inclusion, accessibility, and social justice for historically minoritized people including Black, Indigenous, Latine, and other People of Color. My aim is to ensure that we all have a seat at the proverbial table, because it is the right thing to do. By training, I am a plant ecologist and I study how variation in plant traits influences how plants interact with each other, with their environment, and with microbes. A large part of my research is related to applications in restoration science and practice and I incorporate experimental research and synthesis to interrogate and improve our understanding of plants and their secrets.\n\n\n\n\nDr. Rebecca Barak (she/her)\nChicago Botanic Garden & Northwestern University\nWebsite | Google Scholar\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI am a Conservation Scientist at Chicago Botanic Garden, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Northwestern University in the Program in Plant Biology and Conservation. I study biodiversity and decision-making for tallgrass prairie restoration. I also study lawn alternative plantings with collaborators at Chicago Park District, University of Michigan-Flint, and other institutions. Students that work with me study many aspects of biodiversity and conservation in urban and suburban systems in the Chicago area.\n\n\n\nRegina Mae Francia (she/her)\nNorthern Illinois University\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMy broad research interests include biodiversity, restoration ecology, and environmental justice. I am San Diego native and proud Filipino-American. At UCLA, I received a B.S. in Environmental Science and concentration in Environmental Health and with that research experiences that empowered and motivated me to address widespread ecological destruction.\nFor my PhD, I am working on our biodiversity-ecosystem function experiment which was established based on realistic combinations of plant species found at Nachusa Grasslands, a restored tallgrass prairie. For my dissertation, I aim to address 1) how do community changes in diversity (i.e., species richness and functional trait diversity) affect ecosystem function in a restored prairie ecosystem? (2) how does management of restored grasslands such as grazing influence ecosystem function?\n\n\n\nSarah Hollis (she/her)\nChicago Botanic Garden & Northwestern University\n\n\n Sarah is a Master’s student studying Plant Biology and Conservation at Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden and a Research Assistant at the Dixon National Tallgrass Prairie Seed Bank. She graduated with a B.S.A. in Neuroscience from the University of Texas at Austin in 2021. Her honors thesis, Galápagos’ Blackberry Problem: A Novel Approach to Rubus niveus Management in the Galápagos Islands, examined the status of invasive species Rubus niveus in the Galápagos Islands and proposed support for local agricultural systems as a means of mitigating its impact. Sarah is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. In her free time, she enjoys making ceramics and reading science fiction.\n\n\n\nDr. Holly Jones (she/her)\nNorthern Illinois University\nWebsite | Publications | Twitter\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI am a Professor at Northern Illinois University. My Evidence-based Restoration Lab studies how ecosystems recover from disturbances and the best ways to restore ecosystems. My field work has taken me to far-flung islands in the Aleutians and I have current research projects on New Zealand islands and at Nachusa Grasslands in Franklin Grove, Ill. I am passionate about social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in STEM fields, and specifically restoration and conservation. I co-founded our department’s DEI committee and our university’s Anti-racism Collective to help achieve those goals.\n\n\n\nAmelia Renner (she/her)\nChicago Botanic Garden\nLinkedIn\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAmelia Renner is a recent graduate of Macalester College. She majored in biology and minored in data science. Her research interests include urban ecology, non-native plant invasion, and restoration ecology. Her current research focuses on the impact of deer on Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) invasion in Minnesota oak forests.\n\n\n \n\nSamantha Rosa (she/her)\nChicago Botanic Garden, Northwestern University, University of Maryland\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSamantha Rosa is a Black educator and child of southern wetlands from Miami, Florida. She received her BA in Geology from the University of Florida and went on to spend eight years serving as a teacher and STEM Coordinator for students in early childhood through high school. Her work with children motivated her to become a scientist.\nSamantha is currently wrapping up her MS thesis in Plant Biology and Conservation at Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden while beginning her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on the reproductive ecology and nectar chemistry of migrating mangroves in Florida. As a graduate student Samantha has continued to craft curriculum and design programs across the country that foster BIPOC children’s STEM identities and empower them to investigate their own questions about the natural world.\n \n\nDr. Evelyn W. Williams (she/her)\nAdaptive Restoration LLC\nLinkedIn | Publications\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvelyn is a restoration ecologist with a background in conservation genetics. Evelyn first got a taste of natural resource management working at Itasca State Park in Minnesota and as a student at Carleton College working in the Cowling Arboretum. She received her Ph.D. in Botany at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she studied fern genetics and demography in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Following that, she worked at the Chicago Botanic Garden on diverse conservation projects, including studying the importance of evolutionary diversity in prairie restorations. She now works for Adaptive Restoration in Mount Horeb, WI, as a restoration ecologist and member of the fire crew."
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    "text": "Honoring Latine/Hispanic Heritage Month: Berta Cáceres\nDear Black Earth Restoration Collective,\n\nAs we celebrate Latine/Hispanic Heritage Month, it is a moment to honor the profound contributions of Latine community members to environmental justice, land stewardship, and social change. Not only is this month a time to reflect on heritage but also a call to recognize the contributions of those who have fought to protect our Earth, often at great personal cost. One such figure is Berta Cáceres (1971–2016), a Honduran environmentalist and indigenous rights activist whose work continues to inspire movements across the globe. As a co-founder of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), Cáceres courageously led her community in the fight to protect their land, water, and livelihoods from harmful development projects. Her advocacy for the Lenca people and the defense of the sacred Gualcarque River brought international attention to the struggles of indigenous communities resisting displacement and environmental degradation. Cáceres believed that the defense of the environment was inseparable from the fight for indigenous sovereignty and human rights.\nHer leadership not only protected vital ecosystems but also stood as a powerful testament to the deep connection between the earth and those who inhabit it. As we embark on our work with the Black Earth Restoration Collective, may we take inspiration from leaders like Berta Cáceres who have paved the way for community-driven environmental activism. Her vision reminds us of the power of collective action and the importance of preserving the Earth, not only for future generations but for those who call it home today. Let us honor her memory by deepening our commitment to restoring the Earth and protecting its most vulnerable communities.\nIn solidarity,\nEstablishing Board\nBlack Earth Restoration Collective"
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