Reconciliation in a Michigan Watershed

Gail Gunst Heffner is an emerita faculty member at Calvin University. She served as the director of community engagement in the Office of the Provost where she cofounded and codirected Plaster Creek Stewards. Heffner received the Urban Waters Learning Network’s Signature Award (2019).David P. Warners has been at Calvin University since 1997 and has earned multiple awards for teaching and community service. Warners has authored over fifty scientific publications in the areas of botany, restoration ecology, conservation, and plant evolution. He cofounded and currently directs Plaster Creek Stewards. Warners received the Urban Waters Learning Network’s Signature Award (2019).

A fascinating and moving tale, and a fascinating and powerful book. Reconciliation ecology is a discipline we badly need, and its motto could well be “Unhealthy water reveals unhealthy relationships.” —Bill McKibben, author The End of Nature

• Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1. Discovered Ignorance: Recognizing the Problem 1. Ken-O-Sha’s Geologic Past and the Plaster Creek Watershed Today 2. Earliest Watershed Inhabitants and the Arrival of the Ottawa Part 2. The History of Plaster Creek: Acknowledging Our Complicity 3. Interactions between the Ottawa and European Immigrants 4. European Settlement in West Michigan and the Impact on Plaster Creek 5. Worldview Contrasts and Ecological Fallout Part 3. The New Story of Plaster Creek: Committing to Restoration and Reparations 6. The Emergence of Plaster Creek Stewards 7. Developing Engaged Citizens through Place-Based Education 8. Assessing the Problems with Applied Research 9. Reconciling the Human–Nature Relationship through On-the-Ground Restoration 10. Loving Our Downstream Neighbor—A Call for Environmental Justice 11. Engaging Faith Communities 12. Shaping Future Environmental Leaders 13. An Invitation to the Work of Reconciliation Ecology Everywhere Notes Bibliography Index