I began my study of botany while growing up in the Truckee/Lake Tahoe area in the 1970's followed by many field seasons with the National Park Service throughout Alaska and the southern Sierra Nevada. I completed graduate work at the University of Nevada Reno looking at willow distribution in the central Great Basin which led to work with a U.S. Forest Service research team characterizing and mapping wetlands and riparian areas throughout Nevada and the eastern Sierra. I moved off the mountain and headed west to Mendocino County in 1995 spending 10 years in Hopland with the U.C. Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program involved in research and teaching plant identification courses in oak woodland, grassland, and vernal pool ecosystems in the North Coast Ranges. Currently I’m employed as a freelance botanical consultant based out of Ukiah, California.