Lansing Shepard is a former writer for the Christian Science Monitor who specializes in conservation, environmental policy, and natural history. A contributor to the Smithsonian Institution’s Guides to Natural America series, he has been the writer for several exhibitions for the U.S. National Park Service and the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum of Natural History, with which he is affiliated. He most recently coordinated research and writing for “Minnesota: A History of the Land,” a five-part public television series on the history of Minnesota’s landscapes, a joint project of the Bell Museum and Twin Cities Public Television.

Paula Westmoreland is an agro-ecologist and permaculture designer. She grew up on a diverse family farm in northwestern Iowa and has worked in sustainable agriculture for many years. Paula received a BA in anthropology from Grinnell College and an MLA in ecology and sustainable agriculture from the University of Minnesota. Paula is passionate about creating restorative systems and has done extensive research on plants, their ecological functions, and their human uses, applying her research to the design of polycultures and cropping systems. Paula splits her time between Ecological Design, where she designs urban and rural lands, and the Permaculture Research Institute Cold Climate, which she co-founded.