Our Leaders

Julie was born and raised in California specifically the Santa Monica Mountains and Santa Barbara. She has spent her adult years between the Central Coast and Los Angeles. Julie is the Conservation Chair of the Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains Chapter with focus on Wildland Urban Interface and urban forest issues. She is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UCLA. Her professional work includes field botany, agricultural research, water quality, environmental studies and education to underserved communities and farmers/ranchers. Julie is currently a community educator for University of California Cooperative Extension with the invasive shot hole borer working group. CNPS is her passion. Native plants and habitat protections are essential to all life and beauty in our complex great state.

Bio coming soon...

Steve is a California native, grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles and attended U.C. Berkeley where a Botany 1 class turned him into a native plant convert. Steve has served on the board of the Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains Chapter since 1983 and has taken on numerous roles: newsletter editor for over 20 years, president for 2 years, treasurer for over 20 years, and manager of the chapter's website since its inception. His state CNPS service includes a two-year term as Director-at-Large, and stints as Treasurer (1995-2004), and chapter council representative to the board (2012-2013). Steve has been active with numerous conservation issues and has represented CNPS on the Bureau of Land Management's California Desert Advisory Council (1992-1997) and the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Areas Steering Committee (1986 – present). He is an advocate for native plant horticulture: his home garden has been included on the Theodore Payne Garden Tour several times; and he has pushed for native plant landscaping along Los Angeles busways and metro lines with great success. Steve's philosophy is that if you can protect the native plants, you can protect the fauna and, thus, maintain California's incredible biological diversity. This goes hand in hand with controlling non-native invasive species. He believes that as a Society we also have to focus on the human side of the equation, and gardening with natives is a very comfortable entry point into the world of CNPS. Many public landscape projects include native plants; it is important that these areas look great, so maintenance is just as important as planting. These public native landscape projects are often in urban areas. The future of CNPS depends on how effectively we can introduce the environmental ethic to all city-dwellers.

John became entangled with native plants while working as a park docent and landscaper in the 1980s. He has degrees from University of California Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University, and University of California Davis, where he received a doctorate in plant biology. After teaching at the State University of New York Brockport for several years, John returned to California and since then has been working as an ecologist for environmental consulting and engineering firms. For nearly 30 years, John has been active in California’s botanical community. His activities have included  serving on CNPS’ original vegetation committee (then the “Rare Plant Communities” committee), editing the California Botanical Society’s journal Madroño, and serving as president of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of CNPS.

Johanna is a native Californian and lifetime member of CNPS. A graduate of UC Davis' Environmental Horticulture and Urban Forestry program where she first joined CNPS as a student member. While at Davis she was introduced to many botanists and plant lovers and became a campus Conservatory and Jepson Prairie docent. She completed a summer internship at Filoli Gardens in Woodside, CA and was a founding member of both the campus Botany and Environmental Horticulture clubs and the Davis Herbaria Society (Davis Botanical Society) – where she is also a lifetime member and currently serving as co-VP of Membership.

Gabi has been an active member of the San Gabriel Mountains Chapter, since 1995, and has been on the chapter board of directors most of that time, serving as chapter president for six years. Gabi brings to her position as CNPS Treasurer a career in non-profit finance and management. Before her retirement, she served as Chief Financial Officer for a very large not-for-profit organization that serves developmentally disabled people. She has also served on the boards of the Natural Science Section of the Sierra Club-Angeles Chapter and Eaton Canyon Nature Center Associates of Los Angeles County, and also volunteers as a naturalist for these organizations. Gabi enjoys time in the field, exploring, taking detailed photographic studies of plants, hiking, working in her native plant garden.

Bio coming soon...

Dave has a degree in marine biology from CSULB, and has enjoyed a long career with California State Parks in Orange and San Diego Counties. He retired as a Senior Environmental Scientist working with natural resources, planning, and interpretation along the coast.  He’s volunteered time on science and conservation matters, and a small restoration project on the Huntington Beach Mesa.

Cris is a board member of the South Coast Chapter of CNPS and is the Stewardship Manager for the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy where he is responsible for implementation of land stewardship activities on nature preserves. In the past, Cris specialized in the management and restoration of coastal sage scrub habitat, coastal salt marshes, coastal dunes and marine habitats. Cris also works as a bilingual instructor with Greywater Action, a nonprofit dedicated to creating a sustainable water culture. He was born and raised in Los Angeles and loves to give back to his community. His goal is to have an educational native plant garden accessible in every community of Los Angeles. You can typically find Cris volunteering his time with various nonprofits, leading workshops for underserved communities.

Vince has been an active member of 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.

Bill has lived in California since birth, growing up in the Santa Monica Mountains. Bill has a background in agricultural research and has lived in the San Luis Obispo area for the past 25 years. He is currently managing a small farm, growing vegetable and CA native seed, as well as teaching at California State Polytechnic University. Bill knows the flora of the Central Coast, being an active hiker and explorer.