When Paula Whyman first climbs a peak in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in search of a home in the country, she has no idea how quickly her tidy backyard ecology project will become a massive endeavor. Just as quickly, she discovers how little she knows about hands-on conservation work.  

Bad Naturalist is a memoir about Paula Whyman’s attempts to restore native meadows on a 200-acre mountaintop—about the obstacles she encountered, the mistakes she made, the failures and the all-important successes, and the discoveries she made along the way.  

In conversation, Whyman will share the story of her efforts to restore the land, and how her land ethic evolved in the process.