Bio

Olivia Horwedel is a doctoral candidate in the Geography Department at the University of Washington, as well as a graduate from the School of Marine & Environmental Affairs and the Department of American Indian and Indigenous Studies. Her research addresses how the reawakening of clam gardens in the Salish Sea supports the abundant production of traditional foods while also acting as a tool for climate adaptation and cultural restoration. Outside of this work, Olivia loves hiking around Washington, cooking meals with food from her garden, making art, snorkeling and tidepooling with her dog Maple.

Olivia’s research goals have always been rooted in the intersections between marine conservation ecology, Indigenous knowledge and regenerative coastal food systems. Her work is grounded in Indigenous science, theories and methodologies, and driven by community values and relationships. She has been involved with the Cross-Pacific Indigenous Aquaculture Network since 2022 where she began working as a science communications fellow, and is now a graduate assistant for the Network, supporting the collaborative as they strengthen community access to traditional and customary foods while increasing local seafood production. Through this work, she has been able to visit and help restore sea gardens across the Pacific, seeing firsthand the power these systems have in providing abundant and diverse First Foods. Her current research focuses on the biodiverse foods that newly reawakened sea gardens provide, examining the seaweed and invertebrate composition of these systems and how that can support coastal food systems for generations to come in the midst of a changing climate.

Learn About Olivia’s Research Project