Speaker Bios
Speakers Biographies
Nancy Adamson
Nancy is an ecologist interested in community connections between plants, people, pollinators, other wildlife, and the micro-organisms we all depend on.She studied native grass establishment at the University of Maryland (MS) and native bees important for crop pollination at Virginia Tech (PhD). She hasworked in environmental conservation throughout her career--with the Xerces Society, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and ForestService, briefly with Virginia's Natural Heritage Program, and now with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Newberry, SC. She hopes you're inspired tosupport healthy communities and to document plant visitors to improve understanding of community connections. Find her pollinator clips on YouTubec/o MelittologyNancy.
Adam Bigelow
Adam Bigelow is a horticulturist and amateur botanist who lives in Cullowhee, NC and has been studying the plants and wildflowers of Southern Appalachia for over 20 years. Adam is the owner/operator of Bigelow鈥檚 Botanical Excursions, an eco-tour business leading guided plant walks in WNC. He is an avid organic gardener and founded and managed the Cullowhee Community Garden for ten years. Adam is a member of the planning committee for the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference and has attended the conference for many years.
Laura Boggess
Laura Boggess is an ecologist, lichenologist, and Western North Carolina native with a passion for the tiny, intricate worlds of cliffs. She teaches at MarsHill University and studies lichen diversity across forests and cliff habitats in the Southern Appalachians. She loves helping people notice theextraordinary ecological stories hidden in everyday landscapes.
Bob Brzuszek
Bob Brzuszek, The Artful Gardener LLC Bob is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Mississippi State University, wherehe specialized in teaching for over 20 years landscape management, design studios, planting design, and ecological courses for undergraduate andgraduate students. Prior to teaching, he was site director for 13 years at the Crosby Arboretum, an award-winning native plant garden that is located inPicayune, Mississippi; which he still assists today. He received his master鈥檚 degree in landscape architecture from Louisiana State University and hisundergraduate degree in horticulture from Michigan State University. Bob is currently owner of his landscape consulting firm called The Artful Gardenerwhere he specializes in ecological design and management. Pat Drackett was the director of the Mississippi State University Crosby Arboretum inPicayune, Mississippi for 18 years. Crosby鈥檚 mission is to preserve, protect and display the native flora of the Lower Pearl River Drainage Basin in theirnatural communities. With a bachelor鈥檚 in botany (UT Knoxville) and a master鈥檚 in landscape architecture (LSU), Pat worked as a landscape designer fordesign-build contractors for 15 years before joining the Arboretum. She promotes sustainable and functional garden design and management and bystarting a project by asking 鈥渨hat does this piece of land want to be?鈥
Nathan Buchanan
Nathan grew up on a Fraser Fir farm in Mitchell County and has been listening to plants for as long as he can remember. After studying horticulture in 4-H and briefly in college, he earned degrees in psychology before returning to his roots in 2016 to start Wildbud Natives. Wildbud blurs the boundarybetween restoration ecology and "landscaping" in human contexts, with a particular focus on meadows and natural plant community inspired plantingthemes. Guided by mentors鈥攂oth human and botanical鈥擭athan is drawn to meadows for their resilience, layered structure, and the way they invitepeople into the life of the landscape. A few of his favorite species include Penstemon smallii, Juncus tenuis, Danthonia compressa, Andropogonternarius, and Liatris helleri.
Grace Buffaloe
Hailing from Laurel Hill, NC, this is Grace鈥檚 second year hosting a workshop with the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference. Graduating in 2022 with a B.A.in Environmental Studies from Warren Wilson College (go Owls!), Grace was immediately thrust into the world of horticulture and native plants at theNorth Carolina Zoo. Following a short stint, Grace moved back to Asheville, where she currently resides, and now works on the Campus Operationsteam at UNC Asheville. Her personal interests include native plant agriculture, forestry, and botanical art.
Kim Calhoun
Kim Calhoun (she/her) loves reconnecting folks with our plant and tree friends through foraging walks, workshops, and personalized plant ramblesaround the NC Triangle. Kim鈥檚 playful, reverent, and accessible teaching style has made her offerings popular going on 18 years. Planty Kim鈥檚 elders,teachers, ancestors, and life-long roots in Chatham County, NC deeply inform all that she does. She believes foraging is a powerful reminder that there isenough for us all when we share the Earth鈥檚 gifts equitably. Kim is currently writing a guide & recipe book Eat Wild Greens Everyday to introduce folks toher favorite plentiful, free, healing, delicious, and nourishing plants growing in the Piedmont. Enjoy her article for the NC Botanical Garden 鈥淔indingNative Edible Greens in Your Yarden,鈥 follow her foraging celebrations on Instagram @plantykim, and learn more at her website,AbundanceHealingArts.com.
Owen Carson
Owen has been a professional consulting botanist/plant ecologist at Equinox for over 13 years, where he enjoys collaborating with designers, planners,landscape architects, and engineers to ensure that a site's ecological resources - the flora, fauna, and supporting abiotic environment - are protected,restored, respected, and celebrated throughout the course of a project. Owen attended Brevard College, where he earned an undergraduate degree inEnvironmental Science and Ecology with a minor in geology. His interest is piqued by complex ecological interactions, and he enjoys immersing himselfin studies of the natural environment. Owen thrives while in the field and is adept at identifying Southern Appalachian flora and recognizing the uniquenatural community assemblages found in the region. He and his wife, Sarah, fell in love in (and with) Brevard, where they now raise their twins Liam andHazel, spending their free time gardening with native plants, floating the French Broad River, and exploring state and national forests.
Lyric Carter
Lyric: Graduating from Tennessee State University in May 2022, Lyric has a strong desire to improve the world through research in EnvironmentalScience and advocating for change on issues dealing with Environmental Injustice, especially in low-income and POC areas. Lyric is a lead for the ForestRestoration Program at Trees Atlanta and is a previous recipient of the Whatley Moore gift one year ago. It is through her interests and experiences thatLyric has come to wholeheartedly believe, 鈥渙ne generation plants the trees, the next gets the shade.鈥 Sav: Savannah Tello is Trees Atlanta鈥檚 ForestRestoration Coordinator and an ISA certified Arborist. She manages habitat restoration including invasive plant removal at 18 greenspaces in Atlanta andEast Point, GA. Savannah hosts Trees Atlanta鈥檚 Forest Stewardship Training Program biannually to educate the public about how to restore their localgreenspaces.
Jennifer Ceska
Jennifer Ceska is Public Service and Outreach Faculty at the University of Georgia and has served since 1995 as Conservation Coordinator in theScience & Conservation Program of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Athens. This is Jennifer鈥檚 31st year serving as Lead Coordinator for theGeorgia Plant Conservation Alliance. Jennifer received her masters at UGA in horticulture with an emphasis on plant conservation. Her specialty iscreating project driven professional networks and facilitating projects for endangered species recovery. She has consulted with 20 states in developingtheir own conservation networks. Jennifer serves as project manager for the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, coordinating over 100 organizationscontributing recovery actions critically imperiled plant species in Georgia. Professionals contribute intellectual, experiential, and physical resources fromall areas of plant conservation from population genetics to conservation horticulture to habitat restoration for safeguarding ex situ and plant communityresilience in situ.
Stephanie Contreras
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Shannon Currey
Shannon Currey is a horticultural educator with Izel Native Plants. She鈥檚 worked in the nursery trade since 2006, developing expertise in grasses andsedges and expanding her knowledge into native perennials. Shannon has written for national publications and traveled the country speaking toprofessional organizations, community groups, and at public gardens. She currently serves on the North Carolina Plant Conservation Program ScientificCommittee, served on the Board of the Perennial Plant Association, and holds advisory roles with several organizations. Shannon lives in Durham, NorthCarolina and loves exploring gardens and native flora everywhere she goes.
Katie Davis
Katie Davis is a passionate native plant propagator, with over 16 years of industry experience. Her time working in both the private and state sector hasgiven her a unique perspective as a grower. Katie is currently the Nursery Manager at Carolina Habitats in Chapel Hill, NC. When this dirt-worshippingtree herder isn't in the nursery, she enjoys hiking, camping, and gardening with her Chihuahua, Eevee.
Cory Dodgens
Cory Dodgens was born into a farming family in upstate South Carolina. Still residing in his home area, Cory has continued the family tradition of growingplants while expanding into the areas of stewardship and conservation. He runs a business called Restoration Landworks that specializes in reintegratingresidential, commercial, and non-profit properties with the surrounding natural environment. The business primarily focuses on invasives removal, habitatrestoration, and the production and installation of local genotype plant material. That mission can express itself in a hundred different ways, big or small.Whether it鈥檚 removing acres of Bradford pear trees or planting one bed of genetically-local perennials, each project is an important step toward restoringand reconnecting a fractured landscape.
Pat Drackett
Pat Drackett was director of Mississippi State University鈥檚 Crosby Arboretum in Picayune, Mississippi for 18 years. The Arboretum鈥檚 mission is to preserve, protect, and display the native flora of the Lower Pearl River Drainage Basin in their natural communities in three basic habitats, a Savanna exhibit maintained by prescribed fire, a Woodland exhibit, and an Aquatic exhibit. Both drastic and subtle changes in landscape patterns can be observed within each exhibit. In addition to the 104-acre interpretive site, the Arboretum also collectively maintains over 700 acres of off-site natural areas preserved for scientific study. With a bachelor鈥檚 in botany (UT Knoxville) and a master鈥檚 in landscape architecture (LSU), she produced landscape designs in the design-build world for 15 years before her years at Crosby. Pat promotes ecological design methods, and the concept of working with a property鈥檚 environmental conditions rather than against them.
Emily Driskill
Emily Driskill is an alumna of The Evergreen State College where she earned a B.A./B.S. with concentrations in Botany and Sustainable Agriculture.Through seasons of botany fieldwork in the Pacific northwest, western Rockies, southern Appalachians, and mid-Atlantic coastal plain, she has gained aloving familiarity with native plants and their places in the ecosystem. Emily has been a horticulture professional since 2016 and is founder and headgrower of Tanager Plants, a wholesale native plant nursery. Emily also works as a landscape designer showcasing our broad palette of Western NorthCarolina native plants.
Martha Eberle
Martha is a Senior Landscape Architect with Biohabitats鈥 Southeast Atlantic Bioregion office in Raleigh, North Carolina. She brings more than 20 years ofexperience in design and planning, with a focus on integrating high-performing ecological systems into urban, suburban, and rural environments.Through partnerships with academic, institutional, and governmental clients, Martha has worked on award-winning projects across the United States andinternationally. Her work spans a wide range of scales鈥攆rom large coastal resilience and brownfield restoration initiatives to small, community-centeredurban interventions. In addition to her design expertise, Martha has experience in community engagement, policy development, funding procurement,and landscape operations. She is passionate about creating high-functioning, equitable, and beautiful places rooted in both ecology and community.
Carson Ellis
Carson Ellis, born and raised in Asheville, NC, has been a life-long explorer of the mountains of Western North Carolina. Her love for the natural worldinspired her to pursue a career studying and cultivating native plants. Following undergraduate work in environmental science and horticulture, shecompleted her M.S. Biology at Western Carolina University, where she researched the pollination networks of rock outcrop plant communities. As ahorticulturist, she has worked with the Highlands Biological Research Station, Memphis Botanic Garden, and Tennessee Plant Conservation Alliance,and joined The North Carolina Arboretum in 2022 as the Curator of the Native Azalea Collection. A lover of the arts, she enjoys painting, ceramics, andmessing around on the mountain dulcimer in her free time. She considers the natural world her biggest source of inspiration and celebrates horticultureas the perfect union of art and science.
Katie Ellis
Katie is a Water Resources Engineer with Biohabitats鈥 Southeast Atlantic Bioregion office in Charleston, SC where she supports the design of nature-based solutions for stormwater management, ecological uplift, and resilience. Previously, she worked for the North Inlet-Winyah Bay National EstuarineResearch Reserve as lead author of Low Impact Development in Coastal South Carolina: A Planning and Design Guide. Katie earned her undergraduatedegree in Biological Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech (with a concentration in land and water resources engineering) and a Master鈥檚 inEnvironmental Studies from the College of Charleston (with her thesis research focused on tidal creek hydrology). She has served in several leadershippositions with the SC Native Plant Society, including state president (2020-2024).
Bryan England
Bryan England is currently the manager of Annie Louise Wilkerson Nature Preserve, the City of Raleigh's first designated nature preserve park, whereBryan has worked since 2014. Created from a former cattle farm, the 157-acre preserve's primary purpose is research into the methods of conservationand nature education. Management in the preserve has increasingly focused on "resurrection ecology" which relies on re-awakening a site's own soilseed/root bank to restore rare species not visibly present in the landscape. Bryan previously worked in Charlotte-area nature preserves, where he wrotehis M.S. thesis on Schweinitz's sunflowers and their conservation within southern Piedmont prairies.
Elizabeth Evans
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Matt Gocke
A resident of Durham, NC, Matt Gocke has been the Nursery and Greenhouse Manager at the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill, NC since2008. His responsibilities at the Garden include seed and vegetative propagation of southeastern US native plants for use in the NCBG habitats andlandscapes and for sale to the public. Prior to working at the NCBG, Matt was a master's student and project manager at the NC State Department ofForestry. His research focus was rooted cutting techniques for native tree species including pine, sweetgum and a variety of native oak species. Beforereturning to school, Matt worked as a landscaper with an outfit called Spring Branch Landscapes for 8 years in Carrboro, NC. When Matt is not playingwith plants he likes to play music with friends, ride his bike, cook and hang out with his 18-year-old daughter, Ila!
Tom Groves
Tom Groves is currently a Senior Botanist/Ecologist in the Rare, Threatened and Endangered Species Division for BSC Group, an environmentalconsulting firm providing ecological services across the New England region. In Tom鈥檚 current position, he provides expert level rare plant surveys andmitigation strategies for large-scale projects in the region. Working closely with Natural Heritage programs and clients to plan and execute mitigationstrategies to protect and preserve the regions rarest flora. In addition to this work, Tom also has an extensive background in invasive plant managementand habitat restoration. As a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner (CERP), Tom has provided expert level advice and execution of over 1,400acres of habitat restoration annually for various invasive plant species and agencies. Tom regularly teaches plant identification courses for organizationsand institutions like The Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage and Great Smoky Mountain National Forest, Rhode Island Nursery and Landscape Association,New Hampshire Association of Natural Resource Scientists, University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension, Framingham State University, andGrafton Nature Museum.
Clayton Hale
I am currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Georgia. I leverage population and community ecological and evolutionary research to informbiodiversity conservation in a changing world. I received a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a M.S. in Forestry fromMississippi State University. The goal of my current work is to understand the effects of global change on plant species interactions and how it will affecttheir phenology, fitness, and population persistence. If I鈥檓 not working on my research, you can likely find me exploring the rivers of the Southeast.
Heidi Hanapel
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Heidi Hannapel and Jeff Masten are the co-founders and co-directors of the nonprofit Bluestem Community, a novel community centered nature preservein Cedar Grove, NC, designed as a place of reverence with a conservation cemetery for green burial. They are also co-founders of LANDMATTERS,their consulting practice and the Conservation Burial Alliance, a national nonprofit supporting the sustainable management of conservation cemeteries fornatural burial. Heidi previously worked for the national Land Trust Alliance, supporting the land trust community in the southeast with communications,outreach and community engagement strategies. Jeff is the former Director of Conservation Strategies for the Triangle Land Conservancy, where he builtand managed nature preserves, and expanded County and State Park lands in the Triangle region. Bluestem is Heidi & Jeff鈥檚 swan song to conservationin the Triangle.
Nicole Harris
Nicole brings 15 years of professional experience in horticulture, ethnobotany, and design, teaching and collaborating with organizations like the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, SOLO SouthEast, and the SCC Outdoor Education Program. Her focus involves harmoniously blending natural environments with human-made spaces to combine function, ecological design, and wildlife conservation. Nicole is simply in love with growing plants on her mountain homestead.
Stephan Hart
Stephan is a trained taxonomic botanist who teaches plant ID and use at the University of Florida, Nantahala Outdoor Center, 4H, and for a multitude of organizations for over 30 years. His eye for detail, and expertise in landscape scale and architecture lend to designing memorable and enjoyable outdoor environments. Botanizing by boat is his favorite past-time.
David George Haskell
David George Haskell is a biologist and writer. His most recent book, How Flowers Made our World, explores the creative powers of flowering plants. Hisprevious books, The Forest Unseen, The Songs of Trees, Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree, and Sounds Wild and Broken have received many awards,including twice being finalists for a Pulitzer Prize. He has also written essays and multimedia projects for Emergence Magazine, The New York Times,and other publications. Haskell is Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, a Guggenheim Fellow, and an Adjunct Professor in Environmental Sciencesat Emory University. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia. https://dghaskell.com/
Karin Heiman
Karin was born with a curiosity and fascination with nature which she has translated into her career. She has been involved with environmental work fornearly every type of federal and state agency, including state Departments of Transportation, USDA, National Park Service, USFS, US Fish & WildlifeService, National Institute of Health, EPA, US Army COE, USAF, state Natural Heritage Programs, and numerous universities, engineering firms, landtrusts, with a main focus in conservation work. When she stumbled upon lichens in college, she was blown away by them and has been fascinated eversince (including recently having an entire genus named after her, named Karinomyces).
Shakita Holloway
My name is Shakita Holloway, and I鈥檓 a horticulturist at the North Carolina Botanical Garden. I actually started out in Anthropology (B.A. and M.A.,concentration in Archaeology), which is where my fascination with land, culture, and long-term stewardship really took root. I鈥檝e always been drawn to thestory of how people shape landscapes, and how landscapes shape us right back. These days, my work centers on native plant conservation, soil health,and culturally grounded environmental education. I鈥檓 a hands-on learner to my core. I believe you really understand land by touching it, planting,tending, observing, digging in the soil, and listening closely. For me, direct interaction with native landscapes isn鈥檛 just practice, it鈥檚 responsibility in action.I鈥檝e managed farms and learning gardens, interned with the Soil Health Institute, and supported conservation and public engagement initiatives atNCBG. Right now, I鈥檓 pursuing a Certificate in Soil Science at NC State, with plans to continue into graduate study in Soil Microbiology. The deeper I gointo soil science, the more it feels like coming home to the foundation of everything. I鈥檓 especially passionate about elevating the role of native plants inregenerative systems, integrating them alongside agriculture, composting infrastructure, and community-based education. At the heart of it all, I careabout strengthening ecological resilience in our region and helping grow the next generation of environmental changemakers through hands-on learning,solid science, and culturally rooted care for the land. I look forward to the many adventures that nature has to offer us all!
Spriggly's Beescaping
Jill Jacobs & Brenna Basham
The Hell Hole Naturalist, is a 40+ year landscape designer, environmental consultant, and native plant and habitat explorer. Growing up in coastal South Carolina, he is a life-long lover of the outdoors. When not consulting or teaching about native plants, he can often be found kayaking the black-water creeks and reservoirs of the coastal plain or botanizing out in the rich diversity of Berkeley County.
Gary Kauffman
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Tim Koles
Tim Koles is a fern lover, naturalist and photographer. A Marine Biology by training, he use to work for the University of Maryland on oyster restorationprojects in the Chesapeake Bay as well as buoy and weather station instrumentation. Now he owns a contracting company doing everything fromkitchens and baths and repairs to custom built projects and garden design and maintenance in the Washington, DC area.
Ron Lance
Ron Lance is a Land Manager with the North American Land Trust and has been the caretaker at Big Ridge Preserve since January 2013. He has heldprevious posts in natural history education and interpretation, biology, forestry, botany, and horticulture since 1975. He served on the Board of theInternational Oak Society for 12 years and has authored and co-authored numerous publications dealing with native woody plants of the SoutheasternU.S., including 15 separate publications on Crataegus. A native of the Appalachian region of North Carolina, he now resides in the SC Blue Ridge, 22miles south of Cashiers, NC.
Lauri Lawson
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Margot Lester
I鈥檓 a professional communicator, an interpretive naturalist and a passionate advocate. Most of my career has been in journalism, public relations andwriting coaching. During COVID, I earned certifications in environmental education and nature interpretation, including universal design for learning andjustice, equity, diversity and inclusion. I鈥 m the 2026 Everyday Conservation curator for Bluestem Conservation Cemetery, a trail guide for Triangle LandConservancy and a member of the NASA Earth to Sky Climate Change Communication Community of Practice Conference. Director Geoffrey Neal and Ialso collaborate on a monthly column on local flora for our hometown radio station. My portfolio includes award-winning articles and books, interpretivecontent for the N.C. Zoo and AZA Safe Shark & Ray program, and workshops at regional convenings and national conferences. Learn more atthewordfactory.com or linkedin.com/in/margotlester and follow me on Instagram (@margotlester_).
Ben Long
Ben is a plant geneticist and science writer finishing up his PhD at the University of Georgia. He is a passionate advocate of native plant species whobelieves reestablishing functional relationships between humans and their local ecosystem should go hand-in-hand with scientific research. In his freetime, you can find Ben in a creek looking for salamanders, tending his garden, or playing his ukulele.
Maegan Luckett
Maegan Luckett is the Horticulturist for the Blomquist Garden of Southeastern Native Plants at Duke Gardens. In the Blomquist, Maegan is able to marryher twin passions for Ecology and Horticulture. While she is fascinated by all the native plants in North Carolina, she is particularly fond of the flora of theSandhills and the Coastal Plain. Currently Maegan is a part-time Master鈥檚 student at NC State researching the intersection of insect pollination behaviorsand horticultural design. She looks forward to having more opportunities to educate the public about how their landscapes can help pollinators, and byputting what she learns into practice in the Blomquist.
Paul Manos
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Paul is Professor of Biology at Duke. He studies the evolution and ecology of Eastern North American woody plants with an emphasis on oaks,blueberries, and the flora of the Carolinas. He has taught field courses and workshops at the Highlands Biological Station, Sarah P. Duke Gardens andthe Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley.
Annie Martin
Annie Martin (aka Mossin鈥 Annie) is taking off her 鈥渕oss hat鈥 at WHEE this year to
lead the 鈥淣ative Plant Influencer Brainstorming Session.鈥 As a
licensed NC Landscape Contractor, she is interested in ways that we can continue our
native plant mission targeting people involved in the creation and
maintenance of residential and governmental landscapes as well as property owners
who live in restricted communities. Wearing many hats, Mossin鈥
Annie is a moss rescuer, small business owner, nursery operator (Mossery), researcher,
licensed landscape contractor, garden speaker and published
author of The Magical World of Moss Gardening (2015; Japanese translation, 2017).
Word Count: 100 Character Count including Spaces: 671
Jeff Masten
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Kathy Mathews
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Laura McDonald
Laura McDonald followed her passions of birds, butterflies and native plants to earn a B.I.S. in Urban Ecology from George Mason University andcertificate in Ecological Gardening from Mt. Cuba Center. She is the compiler for the citizen science driven Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve survey focusingon butterflies, dragonflies and first bloom dates of plants. The surveys support the efforts of the National Park Service, who manage the preserve alongthe George Washington Parkway. When Laura is not in the field counting birds and butterflies or puzzling over a plant identification she enjoys glamping,hiking and knitting.
Kara McMullen
Kara serves as the trails and stewardship director for Friends of Panthertown, a 501(c)3 non-profit partner of the U.S. Forest Service. The conservationof public lands through sustainable trail building and maintenance is her passion, and there is a lot of work to be done on that front on the redesignatedold logging roads of Western North Carolina. Kara graduated with a BS in environmental science from 91女神 in 2022 and bringsher knowledge of geology and aquatic ecology into play when planning trail and resource restoration projects. In her role with Friends of Panthertown,Kara strives to impact her community through accessible outdoor education, strong partnerships, and high quality- high impact trail maintenance.
Jocelyn Miller
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Preston Montague
Preston Montague is a landscape architect and artist working to strengthen relationships between people and the natural world. His environmental design studio deploys art, horticulture, and landscape architecture in the service of building places that have meaning and ecological depth. When not in studio, Preston enjoys teaching landscape architecture at North Carolina A&T State University and hiking the wilder places.
Diane Morey-Stewart
Diane C. Morey-Stewart is a Certified Permaculture Consultant, certified beekeeper in SC and GA, Low Country Master Naturalist, Jasper County MasterGardener, Clemson Water Garden Consultant, Clemson Certified Landscape Professional and on the Board of the South Coast Chapter of the SC NativePlant Society. Her farm, established in 1998, is a combination of permaculture and traditional farming, with an active apiary.
George Morris
Mr Morris is a steering committee member and a long time conference attendee, dating back to 1989. He has been on the program leading field trips and stream restoration walks on campus since 2006. Mr. Morris is the owner of Ripple EcoSolutions which was incorporated in March of 2019. Mr. Morris designs, implements and oversees planting projects for various clients in riparian buffers, wetland and stormwater BMPs. He also oversees invasive plant species removal for various projects. Mr. Morris has an extensive background in riparian buffer and wetland planting, horticulture and landscaping with native plant species. Mr. Morris has over 35 years of experience in the environmental industry, including over 20 years with environmental restoration of native plant communities and over 20 years with removal of invasive species. Prior to Ripple EcoSolutions, Mr. Morris was Botanist/ Vegetation Specialist for River Works from 2004 to February 2019. Mr. Morris was also an Environmental Scientist for an environmental restoration planting company where his primary responsibilities were oversight of installation of bioengineering and riparian buffer plantings for stream and wetland restoration, as well as design and installation of BMP鈥檚 and rain gardens. He also owned Landscape Sanctuaries, specializing in the use of native plants in landscape situations. Prior to Landscape Sanctuaries, Mr. Morris was Superintendent of Grounds at Davidson College and oversaw the day to day maintenance of the college campus and athletic fields as well as the selection, planting, and accessioning of plants in the Davidson College Arboretum. Mr. Morris holds a B.S. in Plant Science from the University of Delaware. He is a certified Stormwater BMP Inspection and Maintenance Professional and licensed NC Landscape and Aquatic Pesticide Applicator in North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina. Mr. Morris serves on the board for the North Carolina Invasive Plant Council. He represents the landscape industry on the North Carolina Invasive Plant Council.
Geoffrey Neal
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Kelly Owensby
Kelly Owensby (she/her) is a native of WNC, an herbalist, obsessive gardener and a graduate of a 3 year clinical herbalism program through theVermont Center for Integrative Herbalism. She manages a clinical practice working with clients to improve their health by using the millennial old art ofplant medicine alongside modern research. Kelly loves to teach others about the medicinal properties of plants and how humans mutually co-evolvedwith wild foods using herbalism as a doorway to open up the world right under our feet and introducing a new way of being in relationship with the non-human world.
Jerry Parker
I am a lifelong resident of Cullowhee living on my family farm on Caney Fork a hundred yards from the Judaculla Rock with 1,500 petroglyphs. The farmconsists of 133 acres bordered by Caney Fork Creek and the valley ridgeline. My family has farmed the 18 acre bottomland abutting the "Rock" over 150years, though for pasture only since the late 60's and a silver mine back in the 1930's. There is a lot of history, flora and fauna as well as geography toabsorb.
Lauren Pharr
Dr. Lauren D. Pharr (she/her) is an avian behavioral ecologist whose research focuses on bird behavior and its applications to conservation. She earnedher B.S. degree in Environmental Biology from Wingate University in 2019 and her M.S. and Ph.D. degree in Fisheries, Wildlife, and ConservationBiology from NCSU (2021, 2025). Aside from her research, Lauren is an engaged and award-winning science communicator with written and contributedpieces haven appeared in a variety of outlets including National Geographic and WIRED and has served as a member on the Editorial Advisory Board forThe Wildlife Society, contributing editor for North Carolina Sea Grant鈥檚 award-winning magazine Coastwatch, and editor and a contributing author forInclusive Nature: Science, Equity, and the Outdoors. She is also a co-founder of Field Inclusive, a nonprofit working to amplify and support marginalizedand historically excluded individuals who professionally work outdoors. Both her research and advocacy work led to her being awarded many accolades,including the North Carolina Wildlife Federation鈥檚 2023 Governors Conservation Achievement Award for Young Conservationist of the Year, the highesthonor in the state of NC in the wildlife space. She currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Nadine Phillips
Nadine Phillips is an internationally certified Nature & Forest Therapy Guide from south Mississippi. She is a nature lover and big-hearted humanaspiring to manifest and share her "wild love for the world". Nadine is also the President of the Mississippi Native Plant Society. Her work focuses onfostering community, promoting biodiversity awareness, and supporting human and environmental well-being. Nadine is committed to sharing theimportance of our interconnectedness with the natural world and always seeking innovative ways to communicate this message and inspire greaterengagement.
Taylor Ramsey
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Thomas Reed
Thomas Reed is a Wildlife Biologist and Naturalist based in Chatham County, NC. He holds a bachelors degree in Fisheries, Wildlife, and ConservationBiology from NC State University and has over 12 years of experience surveying wildlife across the Southeast. Thomas has led and assisted withextensive field research and survey efforts for rare and endangered species, including targeted monitoring of sensitive reptiles, amphibians,invertebrates, and uncommon plant communities. His work includes habitat assessments, long-term population monitoring, wetland monitoring andcollaboration with agencies and conservation partners to inform management and protection of at-risk species.
William Reinhart
Will Reinhardt is a landscape architect specializing in native gardens and green infrastructure. He holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University and serves on the board of the Cajun Prairie Society and the New Orleans Botanical Garden. He currently practices in Southeast Louisiana focusing on the coastal prairie and urban wetlands.
Andrew Renfro
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Laura Lee Rose
Laura Lee Rose is a native of South Carolina and has lived in the Lowcountry for many years. Certified Nursery Professional and recently retired fromthe Clemson Extension Service, she taught Master Gardener classes and encouraged professional landscapers. A board member of the South CarolinaNative Plant Society and President of the South coast Chapter Laura Lee encourages the use of native plant material and sustainable landscaping.Enjoys spending time with her Grandchildren.
Emily Sampson
Emily began a lifelong commitment to creating pollinator habitat using Native Plants following her first year as a scholarship recipient to Cullowhee in theearly 2000s, where she first heard Doug Tallamy speak at the conference. She received a BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UNC-Asheville in2007 and has since been a grower of native plants, most notably as the head grower at Painters Greenhouse, Old Fort, NC from 2009 to 2017. In 2015,as a volunteer, she created the first Monarch Waystation in Black Mountain, a 2 acre meadow on a public disc golf course. She was then hired by theTown of Black Mountain to maintain the meadow area and to create 3 additional Monarch Waystations in public spaces for the town. In 2019 she openedPatchwork Meadows and began creating and maintaining pollinator meadows in both public and residential spaces in the greater Asheville area.
Shelby Lyn Sanders
Shelby Lyn Sanders joined the Foothills Land Conservancy staff in 2017. She is the Director of Natural Resources, working internally to oversee allaspects of land management as well as in the field, preparing baseline documentation reports and annual monitoring of conservation easementproperties. Shelby graduated from the University of Tennessee 鈥 Knoxville in 2015, receiving a B.S. in Wildlife & Fisheries Science with a focus onmanagement. An Oklahoma native, Shelby has called East Tennessee home since 2009. Her background includes working in both Tennessee andKansas studying the ecology of grassland birds for UT鈥檚 Center for Native Grassland Management. Shelby Lyn also spent a year working for theSouthern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service in conjunction with UT, where she assisted with the data collection for various projects assessinggrowth and competitiveness of upland hardwoods in the Southern Appalachian region. Shelby is a whole-hearted native plant enthusiast and is involvedin several local organizations and initiatives aimed at increasing awareness about the value and use of native plants in the landscape. In her free time,Shelby enjoys birding, botanizing, hiking, and watching any kind of racing, especially NASCAR.
Joey Santore
Joey Santore is a botanist, artist, author and ex-railroader who travels the world documenting plant life. He is the host and producer of the youtubechannel Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't and was the host of a small-scale tv show called Kill Your Lawn. He advocates for native plants, building acloser human relationship with Earth's plant life, and a re-thinking of modern American horticulture and landscaping due to its mundane disconnectionfrom both ecological and biological reality. In this presentation he'll talk about the inadequacies of lawn culture for anything other than the purposes ofdog-sh*, picnics and sports fields, the benefits of native plants, why modern horticulture itself is disconnected from region and reality, and why the plantsthat evolved in a place are so fundamentally connected to the climate, soils and other life forms that form the living skin of that region.
Pete Schubert
Pete retired from a career managing construction projects for the Corps of Engineers and the US EPA in the Triangle area of NC. Trained as a geologist but working as an engineer, he developed a passion for protecting AND restoring the environment, which he now pursues full time as a volunteer. Pete leads wildflower, ecology, and geology hikes in natural areas across NC; leads invasive control events; has served on the boards of the North Carolina Native Pant Society, the North Carolina Invasive Plant Council, the Eno River Association, and the B.W. Wells Association; and is a past member of the Cullowhee Native Plant conference steering committee where he served as conference director. He is a member of the New Hope Bird Alliance Bird-Friendly Habitat team, and is a volunteer land steward for the Eno River Association, Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association, Triangle Land Conservancy, NC Botanical Garden, and other local landowners and watershed protection organizations. Pete also is on the Transportation Work Group of the Triangle Connectivity Collaborative, working to make Triangle roadways safe and permeable for wildlife passage and to reconnect fragmented landscapes.
Dawn Sherry
Dr. Dawn Sherry is an avian ecologist by training and a native plant enthusiast because of the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference. She is a Professor ofBiology at Middle Georgia State University where she serves as the Carolyn Wynn Smalley, Endowed Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences.When she鈥檚 not in the classroom, she enjoys hiking, kayaking and any excuse to be outdoors.
Dan Stern
As director of horticulture at the North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG), Daniel Stern oversees the development, maintenance, plant records andlabelling for over 15 acres of cultivated gardens between the NCBG鈥檚 main site and the Coker Arboretum. Dan also oversees the Garden鈥檚 鈥淐onservationthrough Propagation鈥 activities including seed collection, cleaning and storage; the operation of our greenhouse and nursery facilities; and our plantsales. In addition, Dan regularly teaches classes on local tree identification, selection of native woody plants for ornamental gardens, and invasivespecies. Dan worked at NCBG in various roles from 1996-2008 while pursuing a BA in Biology of UNC-CH. Upon completion of that degree, Dan beganstudies in the Longwood Graduate Program at the University of Delaware where he received the 2009 Louise Roselle Fellowship in Public Horticultureand completed a MS in Public Horticulture in 2010. From 2011-17 Dan worked for the American Public Gardens Association managing their PlantProtection Program which engages public gardens in the early detection of serious pests and diseases, and develops materials to educate the publicabout the importance of plants and forest health and the negative impact of invasive species. Dan returned to NCBG as the director of horticulture in2017.
Jimmy Stiles
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Samantha Tessel
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Patrick Thompson
Patrick Thompson grew up on Shades Mountain near Birmingham AL. He graduated with a Master of Science degree from Auburn University (AU)Department Horticulture in 2018. He has been employed by AU Department of Biological Sciences鈥 Davis Arboretum (AUDA) since the year 2000, wherehe works with Alabama鈥檚 native oaks, azaleas and carnivorous plants. He is an honorary Lee County Master Gardener, a climbing arborist, and theCoordinator of Alabama Plant Conservation Alliance.
Julie Tuttle
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Julie Tuttle is an Ecologist and Biogeographer whose work focuses on understanding, conserving, and teaching about the natural communities,biodiversity, and landscapes of the southeastern US. She holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.S. inGeography from the University of Georgia. Julie works on diverse projects that include field surveys, teaching, project coordination, and advanced spatialanalysis and modeling, including her recent focus on landscape connectivity conservation.
Scott Ward
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Scott Ward is a research botanist at North Carolina Botanical Garden working for the Flora of the Southeastern United States project(fsus.ncbg.unc.edu). Scott has botanized from Canada to the Keys and enjoys the life that Durham affords. In his current position, Scott writesdichotomous keys, teaches specialized botanical courses, annotates specimens in the UNC-Chapel Hill Herbarium (NCU) and researches the manythousands of southeastern plants covered in the Flora.
David Webb
David Rahah臋虂 臋虂 路tih Webb (day-vid raw-haw-HID-dee webb) is an award-winning author, artist, conservationist, and historian. He is an enrolled citizen ofthe Tuscarora Indians of the Kahtenuaka Territories, where he serves as Council Vice Chair and as a culture keeper at his Longhouse. David was arecipient of the 2025 Artist in Residence in Everglades Fellowship. His work鈥攊ncluding sculpture, beadwork, textiles, and mixed media鈥攈as beenfeatured in museum exhibitions and permanent collections throughout the eastern United States. David brings over two decades of nonprofit leadershipexperience to his role as Executive Director of Muddy Sneakers Outdoor Classroom, an environmental education organization serving students acrossNorth Carolina. His career includes senior leadership roles in environmental education, conservation, and cultural institutions, and he has beenrecognized for his leadership with honors, including the Gulfshore Business 40 Under 40 award. David authored the award-winning book, "The SpanishSeminole: The Untold History of the Spanish Indians as Shared by a Descendant" and "Indigenous Carolinians: A History from Original Peoples toPresent-Day Tribes", released in 2025. David co-author of the peer-reviewed "Working Together: The Significance of Protocols of Engagement BetweenIndigenous Peoples and Universities" to be published in 2026.
Brandon Wheeler
Brandon Wheeler has spent much of his adult life searching for rare plant species across the state of North Carolina. From rappelling the rocky face ofMount Craig surveying Cliff Avens (Geum radiatium) to wading into the lukewarm water of Lake Phelps to map the single population of Military Rush(Juncus militaris) south of Delaware, Brandon has traveled far and wide across the state of North Carolina to conserve and identify rare species ofplants. Now as the Conservation Ecologist for the North Carolina Botanical Garden, Brandon is combining his field experience with a background inecology and genetics gained in a graduate degree at 91女神 to bolster NCBG鈥檚 conservation efforts and support their mission ofscience-based conservation and restoration. When not in the field, Brandon enjoys brewing coffee, riding his bike, and cheering on the Durham
Robin Whitfield
Robin Whitfield is a Mississippi artist whose mission is to connect to nature and help others do the same. Her creative work begins with observations ofnature in rivers, swamps and forests. Her paintings are poetic explorations of visual and ecological relationships. Robin works on paper with traditionalwatercolors or directly with foraged plant & mineral pigments. Robin graduated from Delta State University in 1996 with a BFA in painting. She givescreative workshops and exhibits her work where art, nature and conservation overlap. In 2018 she founded the non-profit Friends of Chakchiuma Swampto manage and interpret Lee Tartt Nature Preserve located near her downtown studio. She is currently serving as executive director. Robin Whitfield livesand works from her studio in Grenada, Mississippi. www.robinwhitfield.com
Marc Williams
Ethnobiologist Marc Williams has taught hundreds of classes to thousands of people about plants, humans, other life forms and their interface. His training includes a B.A. in Environmental Studies/Sustainable Agriculture from Warren Wilson College with a minor in Business and a M.A. in Appalachian Studies/Sustainable Development from Appalachian State University with a minor in Planning/Geography. He has over 25 years of experiences working at various restaurants, farms, and travels throughout 30 countries in Central/North/South America, Europe and all 50 states in the USA. More information can be found at www.botanyeveryday.com and www.plantsandhealers.org.
Dallas York
I have spent a majority of my life exploring and documenting the many unique ecosystems in Northwest Georgia. My love for native flora and fauna hasled me to pursue a career as a naturalist and taxonomist with Coosa Ecological, LLC in Lafayette, Georgia. Through this career, I have been fortunate towork with private landowners across the Southeast in rehabilitating the ecosystems on their properties.
Jeff Zahner
Jeffrey Zahner grew up in Highlands, NC, and has spent most of his life outdoors, developing a deep appreciation and knowledge of the southern Blue Ridge. A lifelong interest in botany and gardening led to a degree in Horticulture from Clemson University, and eventually the start of Chattooga Gardens Nursery, a garden center in Cashiers, NC. Providing knowledge and availability of native plants for gardeners, landscapers, and architects is central to Chattooga Gardens鈥 mission. For decades, Jeff has been working with the rare Oconee Bells (Shortia galacifolia), learning its needs in propagation and production. A long-time contributor to the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference, Jeff has been leading field trips for over 20 years and is a true believer in the power of nature education. Looking to the future, with development of natural areas increasing over the region, Jeff has served on the board of the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust for 20+ years, protecting land for future generations.