Scientific Research and Conservation

Environmental problems such as climate change and habitat degradation require innovative, responsive science. To connect society with ecological systems, scientists must work across the traditional boundaries of academia and research, and in turn learn from new audiences. In effect, both scientist and newcomer must become ambassadors to each other’s culture – learning the language, exchanging ideas and working toward common goals.

At the Sustainable Prisons Project, we connect people inside and outside prison walls to create a collaborative, intellectually stimulating environment in which incarcerated men and women play key roles in conservation and advancing scientific knowledge. We encourage teamwork, mutual respect and a stewardship ethic among individuals who typically have little or no access to nature or opportunities in science and sustainability. At the same time, we give scientists a powerful opportunity to expand their work through the fresh perspectives and creative energy of the prison community.

With additional funding and support from visiting scientists, we hope to establish science projects throughout Washington’s prison system and with other “research ambassadors” such as the elderly in assisted living centers. At present, we have three projects underway, each involving inmates, college students and community partners:

Captive Rearing of Endangered Frogs

In early 2009, we began an unprecedented partnership with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to rear endangered Oregon spotted frogs, a Pacific Northwest species impacted by habitat destruction, predation by exotic bullfrogs and chytrid fungal infections exacerbated by global warming. Under the direction of Senior Research Scientist Dr. Marc Hayes, offenders and staff at the Cedar Creek Corrections Center work with Evergreen graduate students and other rearing institutions in a five-year project to augment the amphibian’s populations in the Puget Sound region.

Since the arrival of 80 frog eggs in early April, two inmates have been employed as ecological research assistants inside the prison. Their responsibilities include feeding and cleaning the frogs, as well as fungal treatments; documenting water quality, specimen growth and mortality; and installing and maintaining equipment, including the “Frogga Walla” rearing shed. In the fall, the frogs will be released into protected wetlands at Fort Lewis. In 2010, Cedar Creek will double its efforts by rearing up to 200 frogs, joining hundreds of others from Northwest Trek, Woodland Park Zoo and other regional rearing institutions.

Prairie Restoration

In partnership with The Nature Conservancy and U.S. Army, the Stafford Creek Corrections Center is propagating 200,000 native plants for the Fort Lewis military base, which protects the largest remaining portion of Puget Sound’s prairie ecosystem. Learning skills in native plant ecology and large-scale seed production, more than a dozen inmates work with The Nature Conservancy’s prairie restoration specialist, Daeg Byrne, to propagate numerous flower and grass species within the prison’s greenhouse and garden.

The U.S. Army has compensated the prison for the additional equipment, including two hoophouses, an irrigation system and all planting supplies, and will work with field crews from the Cedar Creek Corrections Center to expand its native plant nurseries at Fort Lewis. Educating the wider prison population about Northwest landscapes and environmental restoration is a top priority for this project, which is expected to grow in the coming years.

Beekeeping Training and Research

This year, more than a dozen offenders at the Cedar Creek and Stafford Creek corrections centers are participating in a pilot training program to become beekeepers. Scientifically engaging and ecologically vital, beekeeping can be a profitable skill for a post-prison career, be it in honey and beeswax production or pollinating fruits and vegetables in orchards and farms.

Led by entomologist and beekeeper Sam Hapke, our part-time program is scheduled around the inmates’ jobs and involves both classroom study and outdoor work with hives in each prison. Offenders learn about bee biology and behavior, hive construction and maintenance, beekeeping equipment and commercial business practices. Under Hapke’s guidance, participants will also design and conduct a research project with publishable results, not only advancing science, but also modeling this training program for other institutions. Often located in rural areas, prisons are uniquely positioned to support the pollination of wild and commercial plants while helping scientists study the alarming threat of bee colony collapse.

Learn about Dr. Nalini Nadkarni’s Moss-in-Prison Project that provided the model for our activities today, including the scientific paper she co-published with a former inmate at the Cedar Creek Corrections Center.

Learn more about our current science projects in our Blog, Stories and Resources.

Share your expertise in science or sustainability with the Sustainable Prisons Project: Call for Presenters and Researchers.

Partner Profile

Marc Hayes, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Dr. Hayes directs a multiyear project to save the endangered Oregon spotted frog, a Pacific Northwest species impacted by habitat destruction, predation by exotic bullfrogs and chytrid fungal infections exacerbated by global warming. From Olympia, Washington, he oversees a network of field biologists and rearing institutions such as Northwest Trek, Woodland Park Zoo and our own team at the Cedar Creek Corrections Center, who will reintroduce their frogs to nearby wetlands at Fort Lewis. With nearly 40 years in amphibian and reptile studies, Marc coordinates Washington State’s Agreement for Adaptive Management Research in Headwater Streams for Forests and Fish. His ecological research has taken him from the Pacific Northwest to Arizona, California, Florida, Mexico and Costa Rica – not to mention his own backyard, where he and his children snare tiny alligator lizards darting among the rocks walls.

Above: While helping Cedar Creek inmates set up small, heated tubs in a prison shed, Dr. Marc Hayes (right) introduces the developmental stages of the Oregon spotted frog.

Partner Profile

Daeg Byrne
Prairie Restoration Specialist
The Nature Conservancy

Among his many duties for The Nature Conservancy in South Puget Sound, Daeg trains offenders at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center to grow native grasses and wildflowers for the prairies at Fort Lewis. With funding from the Department of Defense’s Legacy Resource program, The Nature Conservancy has been propagating plants for the military base at its Shotwell’s Landing Nursery near Olympia, Washington. The new partnership with Stafford Creek will help the project double its seed production and implement large-scale restoration efforts for an extremely rare ecosystem. During prison visits, Daeg teaches seed sowing, soil and plant care and how to use journals for scientific observation, which allows inmates to measure germination rates and collect other essential data for 200,000 cells brimming with native species. A Northwest native, Daeg graduated from The Evergreen State College with a botany degree in 2002.

Above: Working with inmates in the greenhouse of the Stafford Creek Corrections Center, Daeg Byrne of The Nature Conservancy prepares soil for our native plant project.