Ethan skuches

I grew up in coastal CT, originally thinking I was going to be a marine bio kid. A love for all those good crustaceans and lifting up rocks in the tidepools had me thinking I would be a marine biologist (maybe one day)! Instead, undergrad took me a different route and I fell in love with the terrestrial world.

During my junior year of college I found myself in one of the most envious spots of all: Poughkeepsie, New York, crawling on my hands and knees through a thicket of multiflora rose, poked and prodded, trying to locate a singular piece of rebar marking a forest census plot. Unbeknownst to me at thetime, that experience marked the birth of a fledging field ecologist.

I’ve been lucky enought to have held a few different titles and gained quite a bit of experience in the native plant & restoration ecology fields. I’ve gotten to do some cool work in some pretty cool places; Canada, up and down the east coast, and now a bit more all up and down the east coast! From Park Service to Preserve to private land I’ve gotten to see a fair bit, but I’m always itching for more! Currently, I’m pursuing my PhD in Environmental Science at the University of Virginia, where my research focuses on how restoration projects and urban planting initiatives can be used as leapfrogs for forest assisted migration.

While I often find myself in the bubble of academia, I’m also a guy who gets ecstatic anytime he comes across some spring ephemerals, or some nice columbine on a good rock outcrop, or a plant I’ve only heard of and am now seeing for the first time (especially in the wild)! Academia has offered me a lot thus far in my career, but it’s not what drives me or my work. I pursue science not for publications but for the public. My joy is derived from chatting with people about plants, constantly learning new things, and getting people excited to care about and learn about the natural world that surrounds them. My joy is also derived from reality TV, knitting, pop music, reading, and lots of other things. I hope this website communicates just a bit of all that!

My research and my personal interests often intersect, and therefore it would be a mistake to not mention where I stand in the field of science and accessibility as it currently stands. Throughout my work I am to increase the diversity and accessibility of science to those who have been historically barred or rejected from having a seat at thte table. This includes queer, indigenous, Brown and Black folks, people with disabilities, and more.