Regenerating the living complexity through which ecosystems self-repair and evolve.
Ecological restoration is not landscaping what has been damaged — it is re-establishing the living forces that make ecosystems self-regulating. Real recovery means bringing back the processes that human culture has suppressed or removed: the predators that shape behavior and balance, the beavers that re-water valleys, the floods that renew habitat, the fires that reset succession, and the native plant communities that anchor soil and store moisture.
The role of a restorer is to reverse human damage and stop the ongoing harm before it becomes permanent. I study what was lost — not just what remains — and work to return those functions so the ecosystem can recover its autonomy. A healthy system does not need to be managed or controlled; it needs to be returned to wild, capable of directing its own future without human intervention.
Ecosystems are shaped by evolution to persist — collapse occurs only when human activity strips away the biodiversity that supports them, reducing living systems to simplified remnants that can no longer regulate themselves. Restoration restores that living structure, so nature can recover its strength and resilience without being trapped in constant human maintenance.
Restoration returns ecological self-governance — removing human control so the system can once again evolve, adapt, and repair itself.
By restoring floodplain access and native willow–sedge structure, the river now slows and stores water across its banks, rebuilding soil moisture, habitat complexity, and drought resilience.
A former monoculture is re-establishing as native prairie, with layered plant communities supporting pollinators, ground-nesting birds, and soil recovery through living root systems.
Cold-water refuge and channel form have been restored, increasing habitat continuity for salmonids and improving resilience to seasonal flow volatility and heat stress.
Reconnected movement pathways now support genetic flow and trophic stability between upland and riparian systems, strengthening landscape-scale ecological function.
Whether the work is landscape-scale or a targeted repair of a single function, the goal is the same: restore nature’s capacity to succeed on its own — through the return of biodiversity and a self-regulating ecosystem.
Understanding function before intervention
Restoration begins with research — studying the ecosystem first reveals what functions are missing and what must be restored for recovery to occur. Before any intervention, I study the living processes that allow a system to regulate itself — water movement, plant community succession, soil dynamics, trophic structure, migration pathways, and the pressures preventing recovery. Restoration only succeeds when it rebuilds these processes, not when it installs parts.
My work also extends beyond individual sites. I conduct independent ecological research to understand the deeper drivers of resilience — how biodiversity holds a system together, how trophic cascades reorganize landscapes, and how cultural forces either enable or suppress recovery. Research is not documentation; it is the means by which an ecosystem gains a voice in its own repair.
Research ensures that restoration returns autonomy to the ecosystem, not dependency on human management.
Email: woodycreek@runbox.com
Phone: (406) 930-0456 | Office: (406) 932-7028
Base: Big Timber, Montana • Projects across the Northern Rockies