Assistant Professor, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle
Dr. Cleo Woelfle-Erskine’s research focuses on ecological and social dimensions of human relations to rivers and their multi-species inhabitants, as well as how queer trans feminist thought can transfigure ecological science as it’s used by Indigenous and non-Native practitioners in river management.
An activist and artist with formal training in ecology, geomorphology, critical social science, and feminist science and technology studies, he conducts collaborative research in partnership with Native nations, agencies, citizen scientists, and local community members.
On the Klamath River, the peêshkeesh yáv umusaheesh project co-initiated by Lisa Morehead-Hillman (Karuk) and Leaf Hillman (Karuk) is centering floodplain restoration in Karuk protocol and intergenerational learning. Woelfle-Erskine’s monograph, Underflows: Queer Trans Ecologies and River Justice, will be out fall 2021 on University of Washington Press.