SHAUN MCCOSHUM BIO
Shaun McCoshum is a certified, Senior Ecologist and Wildlife Biologist with over 20 years of experience restoring habitats, conducting research, and gardening. His work includes published scientific papers, books, and copious restoration plans from coast to coast including lands with bison, endangered plants, threatened pollinators, black bears, and mountain lions. His new book explores the pre-European ecology of North America and how habitats existed and explains how we can better mimic processes in our own yards to support habitat.
Shaun has kindly offered podcast listeners a discount of 30% of his new book! Use the code NHWG30 at the Princeton University Press website.
SHOW NOTES
Growing up gardening with his grandmother and learning to view pests as puzzles to solve
His PhD research on whether canola crops could benefit or harm native bee populations in Oklahoma
Canola requiring significantly more pesticides and insecticides than other crops due to aphid pressure
Working as a preserve manager for Westchester Land Trust outside New York City, overseeing independently owned preserves
Cutting down native red maple to restore shrub habitat, one of the only remaining habitats for shrub-dependent bird species
His current work as a senior ecologist at Westwood Professional Services, conducting habitat assessments for developers
Evaluating sites under the Endangered Species Act to determine where development should or should not occur
Developing vegetation management plans for solar facilities to establish biodiverse habitat underneath solar panels
Protecting wetland buffers during pipeline work and using horizontal directional drilling to pass pipelines underneath wetlands
His postdoctoral research examining pollinator declines at solar facilities in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts
Transforming his front yard in Odessa, Texas from a Bradford pear and lawn to a native scape, increasing bee species from 5 to over 50
His book, Natural Habitats and Wildlife Gardening, born out of widespread misconceptions he encountered in presentations
The common misconception of "just let nature take its course" and why unmanaged gardens do not restore themselves
Bee hotels mimicking dead logs, and why they stop working after a year or two without maintenance
How plants in natural systems are meant to be grazed, trampled, and eaten, triggering anti-herbivory compounds that make them healthier
The missing role of bears in spreading ocean-derived nutrients as fertilizer across the interior landscape through consuming anadromous fish
Adding light manure to garden beds every three to five years to replicate the slow-release fertilizer large animals once provided
The missing role of bison and other large herbivores in breaking down old vegetation and creating layered ground cover for seedling germination
Trimming back plants selectively to stimulate more blooms, seed heads, and anti-herbivory responses
The first principle of habitat gardening: evaluate the space from the perspective of the organisms you want to support across their full annual cycle
Creating pockets of sandy or clay soils for ground-nesting bees
Burying organic matter to replicate the decaying wood environments that beetles and moths need to pupate
Creating underground hollow shelters to replicate abandoned burrows for toads and other wildlife
Broadening pollinator gardens to intentionally support both bees and moths for a larger habitat umbrella
Why gardeners tend to think in objects rather than systems, and how American cultural independence may contribute to that
Native plants working with underground microbial communities, precipitation patterns, and temperature cycles rather than growing in isolation
Any landscape design style can be achieved with native plants, including formal topiaries using plants like Texas sage shaped by heavy browsing
Native junipers and blueberries tolerating heavy pruning, with a list in the book of natives that respond well to formal shaping
Decay being the most suppressed natural process in suburban and urban landscapes
The Eastern Bluebird recovery as a model for reversing decline by replicating a single missing habitat element
Removing leaves and then buying mulch as one of the most counterproductive common gardening practices
Allowing leaf litter to break down in place to provide overwintering habitat, nesting material, and food for soil microbes
The best activity for a small balcony with three or four pots: planting sunflowers for pollinators, caterpillars, and seed-feeding birds
Shorter alternatives including aster, fire wheels, Gaillardia, and Tithonia daisies, and avoiding heavily hybridized plants like chrysanthemums
For slightly larger spaces, burying untreated wood chips to create underground pupation habitat for beetles and moths
How to build the underground habitat pocket: no lining, pack in wood chips, add light soil on top, avoid low spots that collect water, treat as a one-time installation
Ethan Tapper's work on mimicking old growth forests by adding specific resources like downed wood
How coyotes improve bird habitat by driving out nest-predating meso-predators like foxes and raccoons
The trophic cascade in Yellowstone where wolf reintroduction stabilized stream banks and brought back fish populations
Oaks as host plants for over 200 species of moths alone, with the option to cut one back to shrub size in small spaces
Bears as promoters of fleshy fruit-producing plant communities, with seeds from bear scat germinating at dramatically higher rates
Ramial wood chips from young branches used in holistic orchard management, independently mirroring the natural process of large animals trampling material under trees
Using dead wood as garden bed borders, pedestals for container plants, and structures for vining plants
Root masses left standing after tree removal as architectural focal points, with examples from Tulsa after windstorm damage
Building underground hollow shelters into raised beds using upside-down kennel tops covered with stones or logs
The Gopher tortoise burrow as an ecosystem engineering example, with over 200 species documented using a single burrow
Prairie dog towns hosting over 400 coexisting species, illustrating how underground structures support biodiversity
Dr. Doug Tallamy's research showing gardens with 70% native plants have no statistical difference in biodiversity from 100% native
Using the 30% non-native allowance to place recognizable garden plants at the front where neighbors can see intentional design
Propagating Greg's mistflower for five neighboring houses in Corpus Christi simply because neighbors found it pretty
Observing insects and wildlife closely without assigning intent as a calming daily practice, including noticing monarchs probing bell pepper plants for aphid honeydew
Foraging edible plants from the landscape as a personal practice
Flora: The Gardener's Bible, chief consultant Sean Hogan, as a reference for baseline plant information that shaped a generation of gardeners
Busting the myth that native plants and habitat gardens are inherently messy
Meeting people where they are when introducing native plants, leading with beauty, edibility, or fragrance rather than ecological function
