People & Organizations
Peter Brastow, our Founding Director, started Nature in the City in 2005 to build, strengthen and unify the movement to conserve San Francisco's natural areas and biodiversity, and to catalyze ecological restoration and stewardship in San Francisco by connecting urban people and nature where we live. Peter entered the fray of the city's environmental activist community with a unique set of skills and experience, as an urban natural resource manager and community stewardship coordinator, from his former position as the Presidio's National Park Service Ecological Restoration Specialist.
Greg Gaar, local ecological activist extraordinaire, propagates local native plants at the Haight-Ashbury Native Plant Nursery.
Liam O'Brien, our local lepitopterist, created the Green Hairstreak Project. He helps Nature in the City in numerous ways including leading TREKS, giving TALKS, providing his artwork, and of course helping inspire and guide everyone involved with the Green Hairstreak Corridor Ecosystem Restoration.
Deidre Martin, our Backyard Nursery Network Coordinator, is our "go to" person for our Backyard Native Nursery Network and Haight Ashbury Native Plant Nursery. She comes to us with over a decade of experience in landscaping with native plants, and work in the greenhouse/nursery trade. She spent several years in the early 1990s as an organic farm apprentice, and hopes to further develop urban farmers' appreciation of native plants and wildlife conservation.
Melanie Trelles & Sarah McConnico, our Green Hairstreak Stewardship Coordinators, enthusiastically came to us from San Francisco State University Environmental Studies and Geography programs. Sarah works at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Advisory Committee
Members - Expertise
Amber Hasselbring - Artist/Designer
Charlotte Hill - Environmental Education
Chris Giorni - Reptile & Amphibian
Ecology/Environmental
Education
Craig Dawson - Media Specialist/Trail Stewardship
Damien Raffa - Environmental & Stewardship Education
Deidre Martin -Stewardship Coordinator/BYNN/Farmer
Deirdre Elmansoumi -
Butterfly &
Environmental
Education
Dylan Hayes - Sustainable Business/Plant
Propagation/Natural Areas Management
Greg Gaar - History/Photography/Plant
Propagation/Habitat Stewardship
Jake Sigg - Plant Ecology/Habitat Stewardship
Josiah Clark - Wildlife Ecology/Habitat Restoration
Laura Castellini - Aquatic Invertebrate
Ecology/Environmental Remediation
Lew Stringer - Invasive Plant Ecology/Ecological
Restoration
Liam O'Brien - Butterfly and Moth Ecology (Lepidoptery)
Steven Chapman - Environmental Advocacy
Advisory Committee members
are active in, and in many cases, lead and
represent the following organizations, among others:
Art-eco.org
California
Native Plant Society
Community
Gardens for Butterflies
Habitat
Potential
Haight-Ashbury Native
Plant Nursery
Kids
in Parks
Sierra
Club, SF Group
TreeFrog
Treks
Other ecological organizations with which we work include Center
for Biological Diversity, Golden
Gate Audubon Society, SF League of
Conservation Voters, SF
Tomorrow, Literacy for Environmental
Justice, Sustainable
Watershed Alliance, Wild Equity Institute and Shaping San Francisco.
Nature in the
City cultivates collaboration
with these and other
local ecological and environmental organizations,
agencies, and our WED 2005
symposium committee members around high priority local nature advocacy issues, educational
and stewardship projets, and restoring habitats and biodiversity
throughout the
City.
