SWSP STAFF

FIELD CREWS

Gwen is the Plant Materials Program Manager at IAE’s Santa Fe office. She works to support the development of adaptive native seeds for partners in the southwest. Gwen earned her BS in Ecological Restoration from Humboldt State University and her MS in Biology from the University of Northern Colorado, where her thesis focused on the implications of local adaptation for restoration seed sourcing. She has experience performing seed tests on many native taxa and has spent seven season conducting botany surveys in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada. Gwen can often be found holding up the whole group on a hike to look at a beetle or a neat lichen. She is most happy surrounded by fresh veggies at the farmers market and loves to grow flowers that support local pollinators in her garden.

Melanie is the Program Director for the IAE’s Southwest office. IAE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving native species and habitats through restoration, research, and education. Melanie has been with IAE since 2001 and has been expanding the scope of the native plant materials programs, building collaborative projects with conservation partners, farmers, and tribes, and implementing large scale habitat restoration and recovery projects for rare plants and butterflies. In 2002 she helped launch the Native Seed Network website that links buyers and sellers of native seed throughout the United States. Currently Melanie is focused on developing collaborative conservation programs for the southwest and is dedicated to growing the Southwest Seed Partnership to improve the supply of native seed for restoration and rehabilitation efforts in NM and AZ. She received her Master of Science degree in Botany from the University of British Columbia (1997) and Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of New Mexico (1992).

Ashlee is an ecologist at IAE’s Southwest Office. She has 10 field seasons of botany experience in desert and forest ecosystems of Arizona, including work in rare plant conservation, seed collection, post-fire monitoring and rehabilitation, and botanical inventories. She recently completed her Masters degree in Environmental Science and Policy at Northern Arizona University where she worked in arid grasslands on the Arizona Strip to study the impacts of cattle grazing and long-term grazing exclusion on native plant communities. She is fascinated by the structure of grasses and thinks of seeds as perfect and beautiful biologic units. She is most happy when wandering around and botanizing in wild places, but also enjoys line-dancing, bread-making or curling up with a good book. 

Katy is the Assistant Branch Director for IAE’s Southwest Office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She leads restoration and monitoring projects for native plants and animals, helps manage the branch’s daily operations, and supports the SWSP by forming partnerships with native plant nurseries. Katy earned her B.S. from the University of Vermont and her PhD from Kansas State University, where she studied the effects of weather and land management on grassland birds. Prior to joining IAE, she led research teams for over five years on a variety of monitoring projects including plants, streams, invertebrates, and birds. In her free time, she likes hiking, snacking, and doing crossword puzzles.

Sophia is an Ecologist with the Southwest Office where she assists partners and seasonal crews with plant material collection and restoration efforts. She has worked six seasons of botanical field work, including jobs collecting rare plant demographic data, vegetation monitoring, restoration and seed collection. Before moving to Santa Fe she was working in Carlsbad, NM as the contract botanist developing skills in NEPA, rare plant conservation efforts, and program management. If not botanizing at work or in their free time, they are probably knitting, biking or daydreaming about their next adventure.  

Lani is a Plant Materials Technician at IAE’s Southwest Office. She is responsible for cleaning and processing seeds collected from native plants across the southwest and leads seed collection in pollinator habitat restoration projects. Lani completed a BS in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Rice University and has previously worked for the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. She has done field work in areas across the US before joining IAE in New Mexico in 2023.

Hollis is a Plant Materials Technician at IAE’s Southwest Office. Her primary role is grower outreach and she coordinates with agricultural subcontractors, farmers, and nurseries to expand the native seed industry in the southwest. Hollis has over eight years of experience integrating the intersections of art, ecological design, conservation, and education. She earned her Master in Landscape Architecture (MLA) from the University of New Mexico in 2022 where she focused on centering plant-human relationships through ecocultural restoration strategies for damaged arid lands. She also has a Master in Fine Art (MFA) from UNM in Art & Ecology and a BA from Colorado College in Art and Anthropology. Outside work, Hollis spends time collaborating on environmental art projects and learning from her garden.

 The Southwest Seed Partnership is managed by the Institute for Applied Ecology working closely with our partners.