About the Botanist

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My life’s work has been defined by a generational promise: Leave it better than you found it and offer help along the way.

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I am inspired by the need for equitable access to comprehensive community-based environmental education, which includes teaching communities how to conduct, interpret and make scientifically and culturally-informed land management decisions.

 

As a first-generation, low-income high school and college graduate, I was influenced by my multicultural upbringing that spanned 4 states and 2 countries, culminating in 11 different places to call home by the age of 18.  Navigating relationships that varied in age, culture, religion, politics and economic status, the fabric that held each community together was a commitment to the love of the land. I was taught by mentors about regional plants--wild and cultivated, stories of how plants are community members and how they connect to wider environmental effects in day-to-day and generation-to-generation life.

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An avid traveler and learner, I continue to find new homes and teachers among community while remaining rooted in the Intermountain West. I am a dedicated advocate to the pressing needs of plants, water and people across rural and urban communities and hold education, certifications and over a decade of experience related to scientific education, urban forestry, botany, plant ecology and relational service.