Arts and Humanities Efforts in the US Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network: Understanding Perceived Values and Challenges - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 244

16.1 Background

Calls for interdisciplinary approaches to environmental problem-solving are com-
mon across the biophysical and social sciences (Lubchenco 1998 ; Klein 2004 ;
Nisbet et al. 2010 ; Sörlin 2012 ). Recently, some of these collaborations have
included the creative arts and humanities. The US National Science Foundation
(NSF) sponsored an extended art-science workshop at San Francisco's Exploratorium
and a joint workshop with the National Endowment for the Arts to develop a national
agenda for art-science collaboration (Malina 2011 ; Harrell and Harrell n.d. ).
Agencies and institutions as varied as the United States Geological Survey, the Joint
Fire Sciences Program, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN),
the European Science Foundation, and the NSF-funded Long-Term Ecological
Research (LTER) network are inviting artists and humanities scholars to participate
at their sites and, on occasion, in their research.

16.2 Arts and Humanities in the US LTER Network

The LTER network has made a commitment to a “culture of collaboration” (Collins
et al. 2007 ; Carpenter et al. 2007 ). While this initiative specifi cally targets social
science inquiry, the interdisciplinary focus creates space for other disciplines as
well. The twenty-four sites of the US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) 1
network represent an array of biomes, from conifer forests to grasslands, tundra to
coral reefs. Goals of the network include:

the study of phenomena over long periods of time [and] signifi cant integrative, cross-site,
network-wide research….[to] provide the scientifi c community, policy makers, and society
with the knowledge and predictive understanding necessary to conserve, protect, and man-
age the nation's ecosystems, their biodiversity, and the services they provide. ( http://www.
lternet.edu/network/ )
The LTER network conducts ecological research at broad spatial and temporal
scales that contributes to understanding, conservation, protection, and management
across ecosystems.
The fi rst documented arts and humanities interactions in the LTER network were
writer's residencies in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in 2002, hosted by the
Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word at Oregon State
University. Several sites have since developed arts and humanities programs, includ-
ing Harvard Forest in Massachusetts, Bonanza Creek in Alaska, and North
Temperate Lakes in Wisconsin. In 2010 these sites and others joined to form
Ecological Refl ections, an informal collection of venues that host science and art
interactions ( http://www.ecologicalrefl ections.com/ ) . A substantial body of artistic

1 In this chapter, the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network refers to the network of 24
sites funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) in the United States of America.