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Home , Canopy research

Wonking Class Hero

The Ecologist and the Prisoners Professor Nalini Nadkarni enlists a Washington state prison in sustainability research that has turned the prison green — and may help convicts turn their lives around. b y v a l e r i e b r o w n

h e c e d a r Creek Cor- innovative ecologist from nearby ing lines with a crossbow. He taught rections Center is Evergreen State College, they’re also her to climb. in the — the involved in environmental research and “It was the last biotic frontier,” Capitol Forest, to be development projects that could chart Nadkarni says. “People hadn’t climbed exact, about half an the way for sustainable operations at up there. It just seemed like what was hourT southwest of Olympia, Wash. The other large institutions. going on in the forest was going on up minimum-security facility is near the there.” But when she returned to school ghost town of Bordeaux, where a uto- s l i g h t , e n e r g e t i c woman, and proposed to study the forest can- pian settlement was founded in 1880. Nalini Nadkarni was a tomboy opy, her graduate committee balked. Most of its enthusiasts departed after A as a kid. “I was a climb- At the time, exploration was the first winter. It’s no wonder; here on er,” she says. She spent a lot of time considered “just Tarzan and Jane stuff, the fringe of the Olympic Peninsula, in the eight maple that lined her getting up there and swinging around,” rainfall totals 30 to 40 inches a year, family’s driveway in Bethesda, Md. “It she recalls. But she was persistent, and and the peninsula itself soaks up as was my own world,” she says. “I really eventually the committee acquiesced. much as 180 inches annually. If you loved it.” Her father, a pharmacology don’t like rain, you’ll go nuts here. researcher with the National Institute t t h e University of Washing- On a foggy November day, the of Environmental Health Sciences, ton, Nadkarni did her first re- Bordeaux woods ooze primeval mys- was a native of Mumbai, India; her A search in the nearby Olympic tery. At each turning, trees seem to mother, of Jewish heritage, grew up in rain forest, awestruck at the incred- crowd closer, until the road leading Brooklyn, N.Y., and taught English as ible jumble of plant life in the forest to the prison becomes a narrow strip a second language. canopy. That jumble consists mostly identifiable as two-way only by the Nadkarni has always seen life from of epiphytes — plants that live on, but dotted line down its center. The facil- several angles simultaneously. As an un- don’t derive their nutrients from, other ity appears as a collection of two-story dergraduate at Brown University, she plants. It’s a group that includes or- white wooden buildings inside a high discovered ecology but was also power- chids and bromeliads. chain-link fence topped with coiled ra- fully drawn to modern dance. After she Most of the epiphytes she encoun- zor wire. Also inside the fence are two worked as a field assistant in Papua, New tered were mosses. “Moss has been greenhouses, several garden plots and a Guinea, for a year and then danced with one of the most overlooked compo- big pile of compost. A totem pole spikes a studio in Paris for six months, practi- nents of ,” Nadkarni says. into the gray sky, flanked by two gno- cality won out; a profession in science “People laugh about moss. I know meish guardian figures. Deer graze near would last longer than a dance career. that, because I give talks about moss, the fence. A clump of men is gathered As a graduate student in forest ecol- and I get laughed at.” Truly, moss on the patio of one building around an ogy at the University of Washington, she doesn’t get much respect; it’s often array of weight-lifting equipment. The spent eight weeks in the Monteverde considered a nuisance to be eradicat- place feels remote, quiet, calm. It could cloud forest in Costa Rica. There she ed from lawns or a decorative element be a Zen retreat, a place of contempla- met Don Perry (known as the “Jacques for flower arrangements. tion, and in a sense, it is. Cousteau of the rain forest”), who trav- The participants here may have tat- eled high in the trees using mountain- Nalini Nadkarni in the Bordeaux woods toos and rap sheets, but thanks to an climbing techniques, setting his climb- of Washington.

12 Miller-McCune / march-april 2009 Photographs by Michael Hanson Wonking Class Hero

Mosses have long been known for their ability to hold massive amounts of water. They also serve as a sort of natural battery, storing nutrients acquired directly from precipitation. When they die and decompose, the nutrients are released to other life forms, both in the canopy and on the forest floor.

But moss has hidden virtues. Among Since then, the world of tree-can- needed assistants, preferably with “new the first photosynthesizers to colonize opy research has expanded, propelled fresh minds (and who) aren’t bota- the land, mosses have been around for in part by Nadkarni’s perseverance. nists or biologists,” she says. “So then about 450 million years. They are in- She joined the faculty at Evergreen I thought, prisons! They’ve got time, termediate organisms between simple State College in Olympia in 1991 and they’ve got space — and you don’t need algae and vascular plants, which have co-founded the International Canopy sharp tools to work with moss, because an internal circulatory system. Mosses Network in 1994. She’s also served you can just pull it apart.” lack vascular structure and roots, de- as president of the Association for Nadkarni pitched her idea to two riving their nutrients almost entirely Tropical Biology. Canopy research, she prisons that, she recalls, were “not from minerals dissolved in fog and explains, is not a separate discipline ready for it.” But when she approached raindrops. Some of them can become from . But now, she says, Cedar Creek in 2004, she says, “The desiccated but, with a good watering, there’s a recognition that “if you’re a superintendent was very open-minded. spring back to life a century later. forest ecologist, you’d better pay atten- I said, ‘I want to work on this project, Mosses have long been known for tion to the canopy, because there’s so which is really about ecological sus- their ability to hold massive amounts much going on there.” tainability, and I want to use your men of water. They also serve as a sort of to be partners with me in this.’ natural battery, Nadkarni says, stor- s s h e pursued her treetop ob- “And he said, ‘You know, that ing nutrients acquired directly from session, Nadkarni came to re- sounds kind of interesting. What do precipitation. When they die and de- A alize that something was amiss you need?’” compose, the nutrients are released in the world of moss. She encountered to other life forms, both in the canopy trees whose trunks and lower branches h e c e d a r Creek Correctional and on the forest floor. had been scraped clean; she learned Center was already going Studying bigleaf maples as a gradu- that most of the lost moss went to Tgreen, partly out of necessity. ate student, Nadkarni noticed layers of the industry, which uses The state of Washington had seen an soil and decomposing vegetable mat- it to pack flower bulbs for shipment, explosion in its inmate population, and ter running along tree branches under among other things. It’s a $265 mil- Cedar Creek needed to expand its ca- the mosses growing there. Below that, lion business, and 95 percent of the pacity by 100 beds. But there was an she found something you’d never ex- moss used in horticulture comes from environmental impediment. “I was pect to find in a tree canopy — roots. the Pacific Northwest. told we couldn’t (expand) because we When she followed the roots back to In fact, moss has been classified as didn’t have enough water rights,” says their origins, she discovered that they a “non-timber ” suitable Dan Pacholke, the superintendent of were maple roots. The trees were send- for sustainable harvesting in public Cedar Creek approached by Nadkarni. ing them out to take nutrients from the . But much of it is taken without Pacholke, a corrections lifer who epiphytes and the soil mats piled on the required permits. Nadkarni was worked his way up from high-security their own branches. uneasy: Sustainability means the re- prison guard to his current position as In November 1981, her study com- source can’t be depleted faster than it’s a deputy director of the Washington paring canopy root systems in temper- replaced, and moss grows very slowly. Department of Corrections, says the ate and tropical tree species made the It would take 20 to 40 years for the amount of organic waste generated cover of Science magazine. “Suddenly mosses to grow back to their former by Cedar Creek was adversely affect- people began saying maybe there are glory, Nadkarni says. ing groundwater, and the state would some questions up there that it’s worth But could moss be farmed? She knew not permit an increase in waste with- taking a look at,” she says. “It was like she was too busy to do all the work it out a $1.4 million expansion of the this ‘click’ moment.” would take to answer that question. She water treatment plant.

14 Miller-McCune / march-april 2009 Wonking Class Hero

ing, organic gardening and beekeeping minent. By spring of 2009, Yoshida n e o f t h e cardinal rules of The moss project — along with the prison’s composting, organic garden- efforts — made Cedar Creek a different and Nadkarni hope, Cedar Creek will science is that experiments ing and beekeeping efforts — made Cedar Creek a different place. Even place. Even those not directly involved be raising highly endangered Oregon Oshould be independently in environmental work enjoyed the ben- spotted frogs to be released into what’s replicated. So far, though, Cedar those not directly involved in environmental work enjoyed the benefits, efits, since the prison kitchen uses most left of their . A consortium in- Creek’s foray into sustainability in of what the vegetable gardens produce. cluding the Washington Department a corrections setting is unique. It is since the prison kitchen uses most of what the vegetable gardens produce. And the inmates love eating their home- of Fish and Wildlife and three zoos clear that it can save taxpayers’ mon- harvested honey on biscuits. has tried to repopulate parts of the ey. But there are as yet no statistics to By 2007, Cedar Creek had reduced species’ range, which formerly ex- reveal whether working on compost- Cedar Creek inmates up lawns, reduced the use of chemicals potable water use by 14.5 percent; it was tended from British Columbia to ing, organic gardening, beekeeping already thinned under- and planted vegetables. He expanded diverting as much waste to recycling Northern California. But the process and the like reduces recidivism or growth, planted new Cedar Creek’s modest recycling efforts and composting as it sent to the land- is labor-intensive, and the project has helps convicts find jobs. Because it trees and fought forest and added worms to the compost. He fill. It had reduced the organic material been less than successful, Nadkarni takes about five years to track recidi- fires, all activities with even acquired bees. in its wastewater so much that the state says. Like growing moss, raising frogs vism trends, Pacholke says, “It’s too a natural twist to them. For the study of moss farming, granted permission to add 100 beds is something inmates can do because soon to tell.” So Pacholke started Nadkarni provided inmates with four to the prison without expanding the they have plenty of time. Still, the collaboration between conserving water by in- species of moss from the Olympic rain waste treatment plant. In the new liv- And, of course, frog husbandry re- Nadkarni and Cedar Creek has in- stalling low-flow show- forest. The prisoners were free to de- ing quarters, toilets will be flushed with quires no sharp implements. spired Evergreen and the Washington erheads and no longer sign their own experiments, trying out rainwater eight months of the year, and Department of Corrections to sign watering the lawn. He different growing conditions by vary- the new administration building will Further Reading a formal agreement to create similar also started taking envi- ing temperature, light, moisture and meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s “Canopy Roots: Convergent Evolution programs at other prisons. ronmental science class- the type of they used as a sub- LEED sustainability standards. in Nutrient Cycles,” by Clearly, the system at Cedar Creek es at Evergreen. strate to see what encouraged the fast- Pacholke has been promoted, but Nalini M. Nadkarni, Science, Vol. 214, 27 works so well partly because it’s co- About that time, est growth. Nadkarni and her gradu- the current Cedar Creek superin- November 1981, pp. 1023–1024 (http:// ercive; the prison administration can Nadkarni, by then a for- ate students provided advice and sci- tendent, Hisami Yoshida, has every academic.evergreen.edu/n/nadkarnn/ command behavior in a way that is est ecology professor at entific background. intention of continuing the facility’s cv/pdfs_science/Canopy_Roots_ not possible on the outside. But large the college, was visit- sustainability, in part because she and Science_1981.pdf) institutions like factories, military in- ing the prison regularly e d a r c r e e k inmates don’t get Nadkarni have observed surprising stallations and schools may be able to to check on her moss to pick their jobs, and they positive responses from the inmates “Sustainability research and practices make use of the Cedar Creek model. project. She proposed Cget paid poorly. So the moss who participate in environmental ac- in enforced residential institutions: “I think you can use corrections to a science lecture series project and all the sustainability ac- tivities. For example, Nadkarni gave collaborations of ecologists and pris- experiment to see what’s possible,” for the prisoners, to be tivities are, in a sense, forced labor. the moss workers pencils and note- oners,” by Craig Ulrich and Nalini M. says Pacholke. “It joins you to the funded by a grant she But former Cedar Creek inmate Craig books to keep logs of their observa- Nadkarni Environment, Development community. You provide demonstra- had already received; Ulrich says, “It gives you a reason to tions and the experimental actions and Sustainability, 2007, DOI 10.1007/ tion projects. It leads to other ideas.” Pacholke liked the idea. go out and work and appreciate what they took. She was astounded to dis- s10668-008-9145-4 (http://www.spring The one unique factor that has Recruited by Nadkarni’s you’re doing rather than mopping the cover that two of the workers had care- erlink.com/content/3074v620306 driven the Cedar Creek experience infectious enthusiasm, prison floor or something.” Before his fully avoided showing each other their 33859/fulltext.pdf) is Nadkarni’s personality. She says scientists came to Cedar release in May 2008, Ulrich managed notebooks, not out of competitiveness Moss Acres she was surprised by the receptive- Creek, but the first at- Cedar Creek inmates work with moss (above) and tend the composting program, voluntarily or hostility, but because they didn’t www.mossacres.com/default.asp ness of the Cedar Creek administra- tempt at an academia- the prison garden. keeping detailed records of tempera- want to contaminate their results. A Web site with ideas about landscap- tion to her ideas, but others empha- corrections interface ture and worm populations. He and This is a first principle of the scien- ing with moss size the enthusiasm she brings to was awkward. Prison dogma precludes see the guards going, ‘Holy shit!’ And Nadkarni published a paper on his tific method — which they had imple- most everything she does. Richard inmates and staff sitting in the same then a staff member would raise his work at Cedar Creek. Ulrich was in mented without being told about it. One in 100: Behind Bars in America Primack, a botanist and conserva- room, but Nadkarni knew the pro- hand, and the prisoners said, ‘Wow!’” prison on a manslaughter conviction Cedar Creek does not allow inmates 2008 (www.pewcenteronthestates. tion ecologist at Boston University, fessors wouldn’t be willing to deliver Speakers talked about the hydrologi- resulting from the accidental shooting access to computers, and many prison- org/uploadedFiles/8015PCTS_ has known Nadkarni for about 25 Prison08_FINAL_2-1-1_FORWEB.pdf) separate lectures. “I said, ‘You want cal cycle, organic gardening, beekeep- of a friend at a party; he is now a doc- ers have less than a high school educa- years. “She’s a person who’s doing a these speakers or not?’” Nadkarni ing. Pacholke acquired a surplus rain- toral student in biochemistry at the tion, but those working on the moss, “Moss Conservation behind Bars: million things. If you look at her recalls, and Cedar Creek relented, al- water catchment barrel, a massive black University of Nevada in Reno. compost and beekeeping projects of- Prison inmates help researchers culti- range of activities, it seems like an lowing talks that inmates and staff at- cylinder that now sits at the corner of The moss study ended in 2006 with ten read widely. Ulrich, who is the first vate threatened mosses,” by Adelheid organization — and it’s just one per- tended together. one of the administration buildings, a disappointing finding: Moss probably person in his family to attend college, Fischer, Conservation Practice, July- son,” he says. “She has this ability to Science, she says, erased some of the gathering runoff from the rain gutters. A can’t yet be grown commercially at a estimates he read 1,000 books in the Sept 2005 Vol. 6 No. 3 (http://academic get people very excited.” m2 tension between prisoners and jailers. nursery donated two greenhouses that scale comparable to what’s now har- four years he was incarcerated. .evergreen.edu/n/nadkarnn/cv/pdfs_ “A prisoner would ask a really smart had been flattened by a snowstorm; in- vested from the wild. But the moss proj- Although the moss research has new/moss_prison_2005.pdf) Valerie Brown is a freelance science

question,” she says, “and you could just mates rehabilitated them. Pacholke tore ect — along with the prison’s compost- courtesyPhotos N alini adkarni come and gone, a new project is im- writer who lives near Portland, Ore.

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