Forest Understories Project
Led by Professor Shannon Bell, the Forest Understories Project is an ongoing, community-based ethnographic initiative exploring the deep socio-ecological bonds that connect Central Appalachian people with the medicinal herbs and wild foods of the forest understory.
Serving as an umbrella for multiple sub-projects, Dr. Bell’s research has included participant observation with wild harvesters during ginseng season; a ginseng seed distribution program with buyers and diggers; collaborations with Afrolachian and Indigenous stewards of forest botanicals; site visits with communities engaged in forest restoration efforts; interviews with herbalists, forest farmers, herbal industry representatives, conservationists, and everyday people who love the Central Appalachian forests; volunteering with a community group as they prepare for their annual ramp festival fundraiser; assisting a low-income wild harvester acquire funding to begin his own forest farm; and her on-the-ground work learning invasive species management and native plant cultivation with her neighbors in their shared community forest.
Insights and narratives from the various components of the Forest Understories Project form the basis of Dr. Bell’s in-progress book and directly inform her leadership with the Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument, which serves as the public outreach arm of her research. Through this deeply engaged scholarship, the Forest Understories Project aims to amplify community voices, preserve generational ecological knowledge, and help envision sustainable futures for both the people and the forests of the Central Appalachian region.