While completing her Ph.D., she also taught basic botany, environmental science, seminar and ethnobotany courses. Involving her students, other faculty, Cherokee people and garden staff in the process, she developed the Cherokee Worldview Garden within the South Carolina Botanical Gardens. In 2006, working for Clemson’s Cooperative Extension Service, she developed the South Carolina Master Naturalist program for the state and in 2009, she was also named the State Coordinator for the SC Master Gardener program. She is currently the local Applied Ecologist with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas where she is focused on research of the local landscape and outreach. Previous research interests include traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and how that knowledge is structured, managed and transferred to future generations. Her current research interests are viewed through the lens of ethnobotany and ethnoecology. She is particularly interested in how people find meaning and connections to nature and place.
Dan Jones is a wildlife biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, handling regulatory duties and providing technical guidance to landowners and managers. His master’s work at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX focused on avian fire ecology, and he has worked and conducted avian research in several biomes in the U.S., primarily in the Pineywoods of his native southeast Texas. Jones has been involved in promoting the conservation and restoration of declining east Texas grasslands since 2005.
John Lloyd - Reilly has been the manager for over 20 years at the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, E. “Kika” de la Garza Plant Materials Center in Kingsville, Texas. The Center evaluates native plant materials as well as methods to restore degraded habitats, increase plant diversity, improve water quality and stabilize erosion. Under John’s leadership, the Center has released or co-released 24 different plant species to the commercial seed trade. The Center’s objectives are accomplished through its joint efforts with the Cesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M – Kingsville, Texas AgriLife Experiment Stations, and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts of south Texas.
Ann Mayo - I was raised in central Virginia and was always an outdoor and nature enthusiast. I naturally studied biology in college focusing on ecology and animal behavior. After many twists and turns, I came to the University of Texas-Arlington to continue my studies and became interested in ants and in particular, the Comanche harvester ant found locally. I have spent the last 5 years tracking this ant and others in the Fort Worth Nature Center in Fort Worth and the Southwest Nature Preserve in Arlington, Texas. I am also part of the Ants of Texas research group, which has the ambitious aim of producing a complete species list of ants with their Texas distribution.
Quentin McGown - Quentin McGown is a fourth generation Fort Worthian with a lifelong interest in history. He is an attorney currently serving as General Counsel and Director of Gift Planning at Texas Wesleyan University, from which he graduated with degrees in theater and law. Prior to