Julia Michaels completed her PhD in Ecology at UC Davis where she focused her research on strategies for restoring native CA vernal pool wetlands. Prior to joining Hedgerow Farms, Julia taught at Sacramento State and in the Biology Department at Reed College. Julia loves working at Hedgerow Farms because it is her favorite way to connect with the public about the fascinating world of native plants, and to recruit individuals to help us restore native ecosystems one project at a time.

Chad Aakre has been enjoying and working with native grasses since 1995 in both California and Minnesota, starting with tallgrass prairie restoration in Minnesota and extending into California’s central valley. Chad has been involved in native grass restoration in California through his job as a restoration ecologist since 2006 and has developed a working knowledge of native grass identification, propagation, establishment, monitoring, and management. Chad believes in conservation of native plant and animal species in order to sustain and bolster ecological health of natural landscapes and has worked both professionally and privately to facilitate that goal. Chad grew up on a rural Minnesota farm, attained a bachelor’s degree from Winona State University, and then taught high school for 7 years prior to moving to California in 2005. Chad served on the CNGA board for three years previously and is pleased to have the opportunity to serve again.

Sarah recently received her PhD in Ecology at UC Davis and is now a Restoration Ecologist for River Partners. The focus of her dissertation was on the competitive dynamics between native perennial grasses, naturalized exotic annual grasses, and the noxious weeds medusahead and goatgrass, exploring the role of plant soil feedbacks and long-term drought on community composition. With River Partners, she now works towards the restoration of floodplain and riverway restoration, and their associated grasslands, across the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.

Michelle serves as Pepperwood's Ecology Research Manager (Sonoma County) where she oversees long-term ecological monitoring projects that assess the response of Pepperwood's 3,200-acre preserve to climate change and land stewardship activities. In 2011, she developed Pepperwood's annual grassland monitoring program to inform the adaptive management and restoration of over 900 acres of grassland habitat. She has a B.S. in Plant Biology (emphasis in ecology and evolution) from UC Davis and an M.S. in Plant Biology from Purdue University where she studied the impacts of wetland mitigation and assisted migration on the genetics and ecology of the rare California vernal pool plant, Sebastopol meadowfoam. Michelle values building relationships between land managers, ranchers, and scientists through effective communication, education, and setting clear objectives to promote native grassland diversity and health. She has a deep passion for conserving California’s rich floristic diversity using science-based solutions and is thrilled to be working with CNGA to promote native grassland conservation and advocacy.

Emily has a deep appreciation for the native grasslands in California and the people who work preserving, restoring and managing them. She is a restoration and botanical consultant based out of Ukiah in Mendocino County and is gaining an appreciation for California natives found in the Coast Range. She is also a board member of the local California Native Plant Society (CNPS) Sanhedrin Chapter. Previously she worked almost 10 years for Hedgerow Farms working to ensure the availability of high quality, locally sourced native seed for revegetation and restoration projects of all sizes and scales. She obtained her B.S. in Environmental Biology from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA and was previously on the CNGA board in 2014-2016 and served as treasurer in 2015 and 2016. She is the current Workshop Committee Chair. (3/2019)

I recently completed my master's degree in natural resources at Cal Poly Humboldt where I researched commonly unused plant diversity in California grassland restoration projects. I completed my undergraduate degree from UC Santa Cruz in 2021, where I first gained research and restoration experience concerning California grasslands. Since 2019, I have been a restoration practitioner in Santa Barbara County and in Point Blue's Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed Program in the Bay Area. Most recently, I was an assistant field botanist for CNPS in the North Coast bioregions. I also volunteer and participate in regional prescribed burn associations where I can apply "good fire" in our grassland ecosystems. I enjoy sharing my genuine appreciation and love for California's grassland systems for their often-overlooked beauty and their vital role in supporting the state's diverse flora and fauna.

Born and raised in the rolling hills of southwestern Marin County, I developed a profound appreciation for open space and the ecosystems and ecosystem processes within. I am an alumnus of the University of California, Davis, having been awarded a B.S. in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. Following graduation, I applied these skills to help manage the livestock and orchard component of an organic farm in Sacramento. Utilizing management-intensive-grazing practices, I developed an appreciation for the grasses and forbs that constituted the sustenance for the ruminants and non-ruminants I managed. While in a career transition, I stumbled across Holistic Management International, and participated in multiple trainings culminating in a whole farm/ranch intensive training class, which placed significant value on assessing an ecosystem as a whole to treat the root causes of a given management issue, rather than the symptoms. This aerial perspective of ecology was a profound shift for me in developing management tools to suit a desired outcome. After these realizations, I pursued, and was awarded, a Masters in Natural Resource Stewardship with an emphasis in Rangeland Ecology from Colorado State University. This program further instilled in me a management-forward approach to ecological stewardship grounded in a science-based approach. I have used this degree and my years of experience in management and advocacy for the past 2.5 years as a Stewardship Program Manager for the Marin Agricultural Land Trust where I manage our proactive stewardship grants programs and offer technical assistance, including dryland pasture management techniques, to Marin County farmers and ranchers. I have an enthusiastic appreciation for California and the rangelands and grasslands, and the managers here, however, I believe that there is always more to be done. I highly value the role of education, networking and collaboration in achieving a desired objective and I believe that the California Native Grassland Association is a crucial vehicle to increasing awareness and value on preserving, maintaining, and restoring native grasslands.

Haleigh Holgate has a deep-rooted passion for ecological restoration and specifically the botanical diversity that makes up our beautiful state of California. She received a B.A. in Environmental Science with a Concentration of Ecological Restoration from Cal Poly Humboldt where she began to understand the importance of appropriate land management practices. Through her time outside of college she has studied propagation techniques of many California native plants to ensure the best success for restoration projects. With boots on the ground in her work at Heritage Growers as a Wildland Seed Collection Manager, she has tirelessly collected native seed from various ecosystems across the state with the intention of incorporating the wild seed in the Heritage Growers seed farm to ultimately provide source-identified native seed for large-scale habitat restoration projects. Haleigh works with private and public landowners through her seed collection activities and has become a contagious force of positive ecological impact wherever she goes.

I graduated from UC Davis in 2023 with a B.S in Evolution, Ecology, and Biodiversity. While at Davis, I founded a student organization, the Davis Rewilding Society, dedicated to bringing native plants and habitat to campus and students out to native habitats. Recognizing the relative lack of awareness around California’s biodiverse and globally unique grasslands, many of the club's efforts focused on grassland species and field trips to sites like Jepson Prairie and Point Reyes. I also worked on a variety of research projects, including projects in the Karp lab investigating the interacting effects of temperature extremes and land use on birds and a resurvey project of native roadside grassland plantings. After graduation, I completed a Hubbard Fellowship with The Nature Conservancy, Nebraska, where I was immersed in efforts to restore, manage, and conserve prairie on the great plains. Now back in California, I am looking forward to continuing my journey into grassland ecology and engaging a variety of people in a variety of ways to conserve these amazing habitats. I joined the CNGA board to continue engaging people in grasslands, promoting the restoration of native grassland plants in many different landscapes, and connect with others doing the same.

I have 36 years of experience in USDA-NRCS as a rangeland management specialist (and biologist) assisting landowners before retiring. I worked in Flagstaff, Arizona, for eight years and subsequently throughout northern California since 1982. I am a member of the Society for Range Management and strive to help the range profession shed its old paradigms because I know that rangeland health in California’s “annual” grasslands can be greatly improved. I believe: (1) that we underestimate how “native” perennial species on “annual” grasslands can be increased by mimicking the natural processes in which the perennial species evolved, (2) our “invasive species” are typically a symptom of biodiversity loss from past or current management, (3) planning livestock use based on perennial species vigor and reproduction remains the most misunderstood and underutilized tool for grassland management and “restoration”. Since 1991, I have enjoyed raising grass-fattened beef, building biodiversity above and below ground, and watching “native” perennial grassland species increase on 40 acres that were part of my great-grandparents’ farm. I’m excited that genuine shifts in long-held paradigms are steadily occurring in California as people become better observers of what’s happening on the land and how livestock can be used to improve soils, land health, and wildlife productivity. I’m a Certified Rangeland Manager with the California State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Society for Range Management. I’m also a Certified Holistic Management Educator with both Holistic Management International and the Savory Institute. My passion is helping others learn this new framework for decision-making that will simultaneously address the complexity of managing land, people, and money successfully, both short-term and long-term. (10/2017)

Sasha’s fascination with California’s grasslands and the species that reside within them began as a result of having the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space preserves as a backyard in middle school. These preserves sparked a curiosity about California’s diverse ecosystems, and she vowed to return after high school. In 2016, she enrolled at UC Santa Cruz, where she immersed herself in the intersection of conservation science and policy. She began her position as an Associate Conservation Planner at Westervelt Ecological Services in June 2024, where her passion was quickly recognized and she became the project manager for three separate grassland conservation efforts that will result in over three thousand acres of grasslands to be preserved in perpetuity. Sasha’s expectations for her board term are to learn more about CNGA members’ hopes for what they want to see from the Association, to serve the community, and as a learning experience.

I am an assistant professor at Cal Poly Humboldt. I focus on restoration in California grass- and rangelands, specifically how future extreme droughts and its interactions with competition from non-native species impact restoration outcomes. My work is aimed at determining mid-to-long-term outcomes of grassland restoration projects. I am currently working in collaboration to develop a statewide Grassland Restoration Action, Science and Stewardship Network (GRASS-Net) to connect practitioners, share resources and promote restoration success. I consult for various non-profits and actively work to train new grassland ecologists with an internship program started in 2017 to present, first out of UC Santa Barbara then UC Santa Cruz then Davis and now Cal Poly Humboldt where I provide mentorship for interested students. I previously worked as a field coordinator for the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER) at UCSB overseeing grassland and vernal pool restoration. I love California grasslands because they are unique, underappreciated and they host a wide diversity of flora and fauna. On the board I work within the Conservation and Outreach committees and serve as Chair of the Science, Research and Education committee to advocate for the protection of our beautiful native grasslands.

JP is the Manager of the U.C. Davis Putah Creek Riparian Reserve where he is in charge of the day-to-day management and operations of the Reserve. With 20 years of experience in land restoration, land management, erosion control, native grassland implementation and invasive plant control, he has an extensive knowledge of native grassland restoration techniques and vegetation management. JP is the Chair of the CNGA Workshop Committee and has been serving on the CNGA Board for seven years.

Jodie Sheffield is the Sod & Seed Specialist in charge of Research and Development for Delta Bluegrass Company located in Stockton, California. With over 25 years of experience in the Turfgrass Industry, Jodie has worked with Plant Breeders, Seed Producers and Research Facilities throughout California and the Pacific North West developing premium quality turfgrass Sod. With a huge emphasis placed on water conservation and creating awareness of the vital importance of climate appropriate landscaping, Jodie has pioneered the development of California Native Grasses in Sod form. Her research has developed key information on maintenance and cultural practices that focus on the benefits landscaping with CA. Native Grasses. Jodie served on the CNGA Board as Secretary for three years and as Treasurer since 2020. (01/29/2020)

I am a third year Ph.D. student at UC Davis studying the functional trait variation of California grassland plants with the goal of informing grassland restoration and management amidst a changing climate. I began working with and becoming enamored by California grasslands in my third year as an undergraduate at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. I continued to learn about grasslands and began restoring them as a preserve ranger in Kern County, California. There, I became passionate about investigating novel ways of restoring California grasslands to be more resilient, native-dominated, economical, and biodiverse. In 2021, I received my master’s from the University of New Mexico where I studied the recruitment dynamics of foundational desert grass species under a drier and more variable climate. At UC Davis I lead a student organization dedicated to connecting the Davis community to their local natural landscape and removing barriers to learning about and restoring these local ecosystems. I have been involved in leadership and committee work since high school and I enjoy working on a team toward a common goal.

Dan grew up amazed by the diversity of wildlife he could observe even just around his childhood home in Los Angeles. This curiosity led him to pursue a bachelor’s and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in Integrative Biology where he focused his studies on the relationship between cultural and genetic isolation in the charismatic and charming Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus). While Dan was out chasing birds for his fieldwork, he couldn’t help but be fascinated by the diversity of plants species he saw all around him. After earning his doctorate, and following his newfound curiosities, Dan worked as the greenhouse manager at Angelo State University. These experiences have fueled Dan to spend perhaps too much time trying to figure out what constitutes a “leaf,” and trying to understand how it is that plants can have so many sets of chromosomes. While Dan may never fully understand the answers to these questions, he is dedicated to improving his knowledge as a naturalist and editor for the Grasslands Journal. Dan is currently faculty in the Department of Biology at Sinclair Community College.

Diana served two terms on the CNGA Board of Directors as chairman of the Education & Information Committee before taking over as Administrative Director in July 2016. She has worked closely with USFW on reintroduction projects with the federally endangered grassland plant, showy Indian clover (Trifolium amoenum). She is co-author of the Sonoma Marin Coastal Grasslands Working Groups's “California’s Coastal Prairies” website. She received a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Sonoma State University and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis.