David Magney, Chapter Council Chair
has been an active member of the Channel Islands Chapter since he first joined CNPS back in the late 1970s, and has served in a variety of leadership and conservation roles since 1986. David was elected Chairman of the CNPS Chapter Council following nearly 15 years of involvement in statewide leadership roles, including service on the CNPS Board of Directors from 2001-2007 (as Board President from 1991-1994). With over 20 years of field experience in biological studies as a biologist/botanist and physical geographer, David has acquired a thorough knowledge of California’s native flora and a substantial repertoire of knowledge and skills. He has worked on or managed environmental issues surrounding all sorts of development projects throughout the Pacific Southwest and has consulted on or performed biological resource inventories, vegetation mapping and classification projects, wetland delineations and restoration projects, and rare plant surveys. He has also performed biological impact analysis and mitigation assessments as well as construction and mitigation monitoring. David earned a B.A. in Geography and Environmental Studies (emphasis in botany) in 1985 from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also holds an A.S. degree in Landscape Horticulture and a Certificate of Completion in Natural Resources (1975) from Ventura College, Ventura, California, and is a Certified Arborist by the International Society for Arboriculture. He formed his own consulting firm, David Magney Environmental Consulting (DMEC), in 1997. David was born in British Columbia, Canada, and grew up in Ventura County, settling in Ojai in the 1970’s. He has taught classes on a variety of subjects including CEQA, Clean Water Act permitting, and wetlands delineation and monitoring. David has authored two floras in California and is currently working on the manuscript for the Flora of Ventura County, a project he has been researching since the late 1970's.
Larry Levine, Vice Chair, has been a CNPS member since the 1980’s. He studied botany and subjects related to plant ecology at Humboldt State University. Larry worked on the habitat requirements of two rare plants, then shifted focus to web-related services, and developed an online, easy to update version of the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants. Larry enjoys facilitating communication between people with opposing views so they find common ground. He wants to promote more dialogue among Chapter Council Delegates between Chapter Council meetings and intends to lead public plant walks again. When not involved with CNPS, Larry can often be found at Balkan music and dance events.
Marty Foltyn, Secretary, grew up in Washington DC, and did not think about native plants until she moved to California. She went to a CNPS meeting in the early 1990s with her husband Jim to figure out which natives would look good in a coastal garden, was asked to fill in for the refreshment chair, and never looked back. For a number of years she served as San Diego chapter treasurer, where she could best support those amazing individuals dedicated to education and conservation of the breathtaking San Diego native plant species, especially the Dudleya, her favorite native. Marty became a Chapter Council representative in 2008, and is now Chapter Council secretary due largely to the fact that she could type very fast in breakout sessions. In her other life, Marty is president of a consulting company that helps technology companies market their products, serves on several community boards, and is the parent of a busy teen who she hopes will continue their family’s love of native plants.
Board of Directors
Brett Hall, President, is a member of the Santa Cruz Chapter and Director of UC Santa Cruz Arboretum working with living collections and native plant programs. His favorite project in the Arboretum is the development of the California Native gardens that will feature central coastal California and selected regions of northern California. He is working with CNPS Vegetation Program staff on the Rare Communities project. Brett is also actively involved in the upcoming CNPS 2012 Conservation Conference.
David Bigham, Vice President, is a licensed Landscape Architect working in a largely residential practice for over forty years, with an especial focus in historic and natural habitat restoration work. The High Sierran granite landscape is his favorite place to be; seeing that this and other California landscapes endure guides his conservation work. David joined CNPS in 1968, and is a member of several other conservation organizations. He lives with his husband and another family member in the Berkeley Hills, where he plays in his garden of weeds from California and the world.
Laura Camp, Secretary, grew up and attended college in Pennsylvania and became a California resident in 1980. She is CFO at Tree of Life Nursery, the renowned native plant nursery in San Juan Capistrano, and also works independently as an accountant for several clients. Laura is active in CNPS at the local level with the Orange County Chapter, including a stint as President from 2007 to 2010, and at the state level in Chapter Council from 2007-09, a board member since 2010, and the volunteer director of the Horticulture Program in 2011-12. Laura is an active hiker and photographer of native landscapes, gardens and native plants, and travels the state pursuing these interests (and also kayaking!) with her husband Bob.
Nancy Morin, Treasurer, is president of the Dorothy King Young Chapter of CNPS. She
grew up in Pacific Grove and Santa Barbara, did her undergraduate courses at
Santa Barbara City College, City College of San Francisco, and University of
California, Berkeley, and earned her Ph.D. in Botany under Robert Ornduff at
U.C. Berkeley in 1980. She was on staff for 15 years at Missouri Botanical
Garden, first as editor and herbarium curator, and finally assistant
director. Then she was executive director of the American Association of
Botanical Gardens and Arboreta and then Executive Director of The Arboretum
at Flagstaff-a garden devoted to native plants of the Colorado Plateau.
While in Flagstaff she was state president of the Arizona Native Plant
Society. Since 1982 she has been part of the Flora of North America project
and in 2005 she settled full-time in Point Arena so she could devote her
time to editing, authoring, and fund-raising for it. She also studies
Campanulaceae and is working on a monograph of Nemacladus. She loves
learning about California's native plants.
Bill Hunt, Director, grew up on a farm, got an education in chemistry (B.S. Chemistry from U. of Mississippi, Ph.D. Chemistry from California Institute of Technology, Miller Fellow at U.C. Berkeley) and earned a living
writing computer software. Bill has always been interested in nature — places, plants and animals.
Along with his wife, Lesley, he belongs to CNPS, the Nature Conservancy, Save Mount Diablo and other conservation organizations. Bill is a regular visitor to many of
the units of the East Bay Regional Park system, and has taken spring wildflower trips to southern and central California in recent years. Bill
records what he sees as a casual photographer. His website contains a small amount of that record. Since 1991 Bill has volunteered in and led habitat restoration projects with the Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation (WCOSF) and been on its
board for 12 years. He created the WCOSF website in 2003 and maintained it until recently. He served on the Walnut Creek Park, Recreation and Open Space
Commission, the Steering Committee for the city’s General Plan and the Community Blue Ribbon Task Force on Fiscal Health. Bill has served as Vice President of the East Bay Chapter of CNPS and delegate to the Chapter Council for 3 years. He has served on the
Logistics Committee, Planning and Evaluation (Strategic Plan) and Brand Development (Logo) Committees at the state level of CNPS.
Brian LeNeve, Director, is the owner of LeNeve Painting Company, Inc. and a lifelong resident of Carmel. He fell in love with California native plants after discovering the genus Clarkia, which he has continued to study throughout California. His interest in plants and habitats has grown as has his commitment to protecting California’s wild places. Brian has been a CNPS member since the mid-90s and is past President and current Vice President of the Monterey Bay Chapter. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Carmel River Steelhead Association and the California Salmon and Steelhead Association.
Vince Scheidt, Director, has been an active member of the CNPS since 1980. He has assisted with listing petitions, litigation, rare plant studies, and the annual San Diego Chapter fall plant sale for many years. Vince graduated from SDSU and UCLA where he received an MA in Biology. He lives in San Diego, where he owns a small private environmental consulting firm specializing in biological studies and endangered species surveys. He enjoys propagating native plants, specializing in rare Dudleyas, and maintains a diverse native plant garden filled with dozens of uncommon species. He is passionate about endangered plants and unusual plant communities, and loves the outdoors.
Alison Shilling, Director and Legislation Committee Chair, is a retired teacher and college instructor. Alison holds an M.A. in Education and a Ph.D. in Linguistics. She has been a CNPS member since 1988 and served for 10 years as Conservation Chair for the Riverside/San Bernardino Chapter. As a member of CNPS, Alison has focused her efforts on Conservation, Horticulture, and Litigation. She is a life member of Master Gardener and is a volunteer with Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic.
David Varner, Director, originally joined CNPS in 1999. After working in the environmental consulting industry in Idaho for eight years, David jumped at the chance to return to southern California and reorient his career toward land preservation and natural resource conservation. David now runs the Habitat Management Program at San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, designing and implementing habitat restoration projects in northern San Diego County. He holds CNPS fieldtrips at San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve where he also maintains an official plant list. He is certified by California Invasive Plant Council as a Cal-IPC Trained Wildland Manager, and he instructs its invasive vegetation mapping classes. David loves California and San Diego County for its coast, mountains, valleys, deserts, and proximity to the Baja Peninsula! He practices Ashtanga Yoga, and he loves to experience the outdoors hiking, biking, surfing, kayaking, birding, and, of course, botanizing.
Steve Windhager, Director, joined CNPS shortly after moving to California in December 2010, and has been working with his local CNPS chapter since January 2012. He has served on other environmental non-profit boards and helped to organize several national and international conferences. Steve is currently the Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and is a member of Cal-IPC and Channel Islands Restoration, the Society for Ecological Restoration International, and the American Public Gardens Association.
Steve Hartman, Chapter Council Representative, has been producing computer-based botanic keys and field guides since 1990, leading to his current series of Wildflower Field Guide iPhone/iPad applications. He has been member of the California Native Plant Society since 1974, has served on the CNPS State Board of Directors as Treasurer for over a decade, and was honored as a CNPS Fellow. Steve is a long-time activist of the Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains chapter having served as chapter president, and currently serving as treasurer, newsletter editor, webmaster, plant sale and native plant week event co-chair. His local project is the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Area, in the San Fernando Valley, where he has guided revegetation projects and has encouraged the City of Los Angeles to develop large-scale native landscaping projects. He served on the Bureau of Land Management's California Desert District Advisory Council for five years representing CNPS.
Steve is currently the treasurer of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants, Inc. in Sun Valley, California (Los Angeles area).
Orchid Black, Chapter Council Representative roamed barefoot through coastal sage scrub as a child. She became interested in California native horticulture through The Theodore Payne Foundation and later became a member of CNPS San Gabriel Mountains Chapter. She leads plant walks for the chapter and advises on native plants at the chapter plant sale. She became Program Chair for the chapter in 2003 and Chapter Council delegate in 2008. She is a member of the Strategic Alliance which has written the proposed Oak Woodland Management Plan for Los Angeles County. Orchid is a garden designer whose practice focuses on California native plants. Several of her gardens have been featured on the Theodore Payne Garden Tour. With the Friends of Washington Park, she has been active in the design and restoration of Washington Park in Pasadena, originally designed by Theodore Payne. She teaches Sustainable Garden Practice for UCLA Extension, and gives lectures and workshops on native horticulture throughout Southern California.
Staff
Jennifer Buck-Diaz, Vegetation Ecologist, works in the Vegetation Program to survey, classify, and map vegetation in California. She co-teaches a vernal pool taxonomy workshop and is currently focused on the classification of grassland vegetation types. She earned both a B.S. and an M.S. degree from the University of California, Davis in Plant Biology. Her thesis focused on temporal dynamics of vernal pool grassland vegetation and she recently participated in a state-wide classification project looking at fine-scale vegetation in vernal pools. Prior to joining CNPS, Jennifer worked as an ecologist with The Nature Conservancy at the Cosumnes River Preserve. Botany is her first love, and she has extensive experience working in different plant communities across the western United States, ranging from grasslands to forests, alpine peaks to saline marshes. Her favorite plant is Centunculus minimus.
Kim Clark, So. California Rare Plant Treasure Hunt Volunteer Coordinator,
joined CNPS in 2012 and loves working with people in the out of doors, carrying out field projects to improve habitat or inform future conservation efforts. She is a co-founder of Habitat Works, a Los-Angeles-based, non-profit wildlands stewardship organization, performing over 250 volunteer projects since 2003, and has extensive experience developing projects in support of federal, state and private land managers with restoration programs and goals. She has a BS in Biochemistry from CSULA, and a professional background in marketing and product management. In addition to homeschooling her two kids- now Environmental Science/GIS and Health Science majors at California universities, she has decades of combined experience in outdoor youth leadership with Girl and Boy Scouts, and has conducted over 50 forest tree plantings as a Mountain Forestry Leader with Tree People.
Josie Crawford, Education Program Director, coordinates the development and implementation of professional training workshops. She joined CNPS in February 2005. During her first two years, she coordinated and led workshops for the CNPS Vegetation Program primarily for the Sierra Foothills sampling and classification project. Josie has over 15 years of experience teaching people about plants as a naturalist and biologist. She has a B.A. and M.A. in Biology from Humboldt State University. Prior to this professional career, Josie owned and operated a neon-sign business in San Francisco.
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Julie Evens, Vegetation Program Director, manages the Vegetation Program and maintains standard methods for surveying, classifying, and mapping vegetation in California. She provides public workshops on vegetation surveying and mapping methods, archives and analyzes vegetation data from across the state. She works collaboratively with agencies and CNPS chapters on vegetation projects, including projects in Marin, Riverside, San Diego, San Benito, Santa Clara, Tuolumne, and Ventura counties. Julie also is working with John Sawyer and Todd Keeler-Wolf as a co-author of the second edition of A Manual of California Vegetation. Julie has a M.A. degree from Humboldt State University with a thesis on watercourse vegetation of the eastern Mojave Desert, and she holds two B.A. degrees from the University of California-Santa Cruz in Biology/Botany and Environmental Studies. She has worked as a vegetation ecologist and botanist for over 10 years with federal and state agencies including the National Park Service, US Geological Survey, University of California, and Department of Fish & Game. Her past work has included vegetation sampling and mapping projects in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks and the central Mojave Desert. She has worked for CNPS since April 2001.
Stacey Flowerdew, Membership and Development Coordinator, coordinates membership and development activities and provides general administrative support. Stacey has a B.A. in International Relations from the University of California, Davis. Prior to joining CNPS she worked as an IT Data Analyst in the healthcare industry. Stacey is a California native plant enthusiast as well as an amateur wildflower photographer, genealogist. She also enjoys history and middle Eastern style dancing. She is equally comfortable in the mountains (preferably above 6000 feet) or at home in Sacramento, in air conditioning, reading a book.
Caroline Garland, Sales, joined CNPS as a volunteer in Sept. 2010, where she soon worked her way into a staff position in Jan. 2011. Her primary role is managing the sales program at the state office, however, she also provides other various administrative support throughout the office including her recent involvement as the Chapter Horticulture Coordinator. Caroline learned her passion for horticulture through her father who has owned a Landscape Construction company for over 35 years. From learning how to tend the garden as a little girl, to working with her dad on design/install projects in her spare time, she has always enjoyed seeing the beauty that can be created through landscape design and natural environments. Caroline graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a BS in Environmental Horticultural Science and a concentration in Landscape Design.
Daniel Gluesenkamp, Executive Director, works with staff and chapters to protect, understand, and celebrate California’s native flora. Dan first fell in love with California plants (and CNPS) as a student at UC Santa Cruz, and he earned his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley studying the ecology of native and invasive thistles. He previously worked as Executive Director of The Calflora Database, where he led development of exciting new tools for conservation and research, and as Director of Habitat Protection and Restoration for Audubon Canyon Ranch’s 30 preserves. His history with California plant conservation and research includes on-the-ground experience restoring native habitat, and experimental research on invasive turkey impacts, nitrogen deposition, and sierra meadows. Dan is a founder and past president of the California Invasive Plant Council, co-founder of the Bay Area Early Detection Network (BAEDN), and in 2009 discovered a presumed-extinct Franciscan manzanita plant growing on a traffic island at the Golden Gate Bridge.
Vern Goehring, Legislative Advisor, has many years of experience in government management, legislative and regulatory advocacy, and policy making. Vern is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, in Economics and has completed graduate studies in Government at California State University, Sacramento. He worked for the State of California for 26 years in various administrative and management positions, including legislative advocate for the Departments of Transportation and Fish & Game. He started a private consulting practice in 1997 and assists clients on legislative and administrative advocacy, policy and strategy development, and organizational management. He is a registered lobbyist in California.
Bob Hass, Editor, Fremontia and CNPS Bulletin assumed the editorship of Fremontia in fall 2009, after serving as its copy editor since 2001. He has served as editor of the CNPS Bulletin since 2005. A past conservation co-chair for public policy and also public relations chair for the Milo Baker Chapter, he works as a freelance editor, writer, and publications consultant. From 2001-2008 he also worked part-time in the restoration program at the Sonoma Ecology Center on invasive plant management, and helped to prepare and track grant proposals. Prior to that he was a senior editor at UC Berkeley for many years. Bob is a past board member of the Northern California Earth Institute, which promotes self-directed group study courses on ways of creating a healthy and sustainable world. He is also an avid native plant gardener, a moderately accomplished cellist, and a chorus member. Bob has a B.A. in English from Earlham College, and a M.A. in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.
Marcy Millett, Administration, joined the CNPS staff in November of 2009, and works with Cari Porter and Daniel Gluesenkamp to support critical administrative membership and accounting responsibilities at the state office. Marcy has worked in various roles within the field of landscape architecture during the past few years. She attended Seattle Pacific University, and graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, with a BLA in Landscape Architecture. While at Cal Poly, Marcy had an opportunity to study abroad for a year at Leeds Metropolitan University in England. She is a registered landscape architect in the State of California, a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, and is studying to become LEED accredited. Marcy grew up in Washington State, and moved to California in 2000. She and her husband Mike moved to Sacramento in 2006. In addition to her work and interests in native plants and conservation, Marcy has many hobbies which include, skiing, scuba diving, cycling, camping, sewing, knitting, and beading.
Mark Naftzger, Webmaster, is a website design professional. He creates and maintains websites for clients in a wide range of industries and professions.
Mack Casterman, East Bay Chapter Conservation Analyst
was born and raised on the Bay Area's Peninsula. He earned his Bachelor of Science Degree at UC Davis, majoring in Environmental Biology and Natural Resources Management. During college, Mack spent his summers working for the San Mateo County Department of Parks as a seasonal park aid at Huddard, Wunderlich, and Edgewood County Parks. After graduating, he was selected for an internship at the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District where he assisted the District's operations department in managing their 60,000 acres of public open space preserves. Mack has always been interested in the environment and finding ways to ensure that precious natural resources remain protected, even as economic and social motivators spur development farther into the remaining natural areas of our world. He believes that the Conservation Analyst position will allow him to do just that, and is honored to be given the opportunity to work with CNPS on this challenging task. In his free time, Mack enjoys freestyle skiing, cycling, photography, gardening, and cooking.
Cari Porter, Finance and Administration Manager, is an economist with experience in all areas of non-profit management, including accounting, budget development, personnel management, fundraising, public relations, and marketing. Prior to working for CNPS, Cari served as Vice President for San Mateo County Economic Development Association (Samceda), San Mateo, CA. She also worked as a Financial Analyst at Blackburne & Brown Mortgage Company, Sacramento, CA, and as Assistant Production Manager at Jo-Lynns, Elk Grove, CA. Cari has a degree in Economics from Golden Gate University.
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Kendra Sikes, Vegetation Ecologist, is coordinating field work for the Vegetation Program. She earned an M.S. in Botany (Ecology emphasis) from Oregon State University, where her research compared the community composition effects of two fuel treatments on chaparral in southwestern Oregon. She also has a B.A. in Biology from Brown University. Before joining CNPS, she worked for the National Park Service in the Santa Monica Mountains, for the Missouri Botanical Garden coordinating their Madagascar specimens and data, and in horticulture for Yerba Buena Nursery, one of the first nurseries to specialize in California natives.
Aaron Sims, Rare Plant Botanist, implements the CNPS Rare Plant Review Process in addition to maintaining and updating the CNPS Inventory. He also assists with rare plant conservation work and various other tasks pertaining to rare plant science as time allows. Prior to joining CNPS in June of 2010, Aaron worked in environmental consulting and as a biologist for California State Parks on the Central Coast, where he performed rare plant and vegetation surveys, aided in prescribed fire management, and produced a multitude of maps pertaining to sensitive resources, in addition to various other tasks. Aaron also monitored nesting seabirds for USFWS on a remote island off the coast of Alaska during the summer of 2008. Recent publications for California State Parks include the San Luis Obispo Coast District North Coast Acquisitions Natural Resource Inventory, 2008, and the Atlas of Sensitive Species of the Morro Bay Area, 2010, in collaboration with the Morro Bay National Estuary Program. Aaron holds a B.S. from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, in Ecology and Systematic Biology with an emphasis in Botany. In addition to his enthusiasm for field botany, Aaron enjoys hiking, backpacking, snowboarding, photography, travel, and ceramics in his free time.
Danny Slakey, Project Coordinator for the Rare Plant Treasure Hunt and Rare Plant Program Assistant helps to implement the rare plant status review process and organizes citizen-science surveys to document rare plants around the state. He earned his M.S. in biology from Western Washington University, where he studied plant invasion ecology in a Bay Area serpentine grassland. He also has a B.S. in natural resource management from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Danny has done botanical work for the BLM in Idaho, restored desert tortoise habitat in the Mojave Desert, and worked as an intern for the Presidio Native Plant Nursery in San Francisco. Danny enjoys numerous outdoor sports, including cycling, kayaking, climbing and backpacking. He is excited to be able to combine his enthusiasm for both native plants and adventure sports through the Rare Plant Treasure Hunt.
Deborah Stout joined the CNPS Vegetation Program in 2010 as a Vegetation
Crew Team Leader. She has been assisting with vegetation sampling, classification and mapping projects around the state, including a fine-scale mapping project in the Carrizo Plain National Monument. Her other tasks include sampling and describing fen vegetation in the Sierra Nevada, data management/analysis to categorize vegetation in the Mojave Desert, writing and editing technical reports, and providing vegetation sampling workshops to CNPS chapters and the public. Prior to joining CNPS, Deborah worked for over 5 years with various firms as an environmental consultant in the Sacramento region. Deborah holds a BA in Biology from the University of Montana, Missoula; and a MS in Ecology from the University of California, Davis. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her cats and chickens.
Greg Suba, Conservation Program Director, coordinates the development of native plant conservation policies and initiatives for CNPS. Prior to joining CNPS, Greg worked to protect sensitive habitats at the urban / open space interface as watershed coordinator for the Laguna Creek Watershed Council in Sacramento County. His past work includes investigating reproductive strategies of seagrass populations along the west coast of North America, surveying forest inventory plots in California's National Forests, assessing riparian ecosystem health throughout Sacramento, El Dorado, and Placer Counties, and developing outdoor education and stewardship programs throughout northern California. Greg received his B.S. in Biology from Duke University, his M.S. in Marine Science from UNC-Chapel Hill, and continues to learn from those with whom he works, lives, and plays.
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cnps.org
Larry Levine, Vice Chair
David Bigham, Vice President
Laura Camp, Secretary,
Bill Hunt, Director
Dedicated to the Preservation of California Native Flora