Wes Colvin,
O. C. Coastkeeper

Wes Colvin is currently a UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) Environmental Studies doctoral candidate, whose degree will be conferred in March. Prior to his PhD program, he received an Associate of Arts degree in Biology and Environmental Science and then a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and Environmental Studies. While in school he assisted with the instruction of a myriad of courses including but not limited to: Restoration Ecology, Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture, Environmental Field Methods, Ethnobotany, General Ecology, and Introductory Soil Ecology.

Upon graduation, he worked for the Natural Sciences Division at Fullerton College where he gained extensive experience running an academic laboratory before returning to graduate school. In 1988, Wes became certified as a NAUI certified SCUBA Instructor which lead to research diver certification at UCSC and coursework in kelp forest ecology.

As a Natural History Field Quarter (NHFQ) student at UCSC, Wes was introduced to Santa Cruz Island, where he managed the 17-year old NHFQ Fennel Project, an invasive plant management investigation, for a decade. He also comes with extensive experience evaluating the impact of various fennel eradication techniques on the conservation and restoration of native flora and fauna for the University of California - Natural Reserve System, The Nature Conservancy, and Channel Islands National Park.

A native to Orange County, and Wes is now looking forward to making a positive contribution towards resolving many of the environmental problems facing the County.

Tim Fiskin,
Roger’s Gardens

Tim Fiskin, general manager of Roger's Gardens Landscape, has been designing and installing gardens in Southern California for over twenty years. He is especially interested in low water use gardens and was involved in Roger's Gardens own drought tolerant makeover.

Darren L. Haver, Ph.D.,
Watershed Management Advisor for the U.C. Cooperative Extension in Orange County

Dr. Haver received a B.S. in Ornamental Horticulture from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a Ph.D. in Botany & Plant Sciences from the University of California, Riverside. He currently serves as the Watershed Management Advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension in Orange County. He has been active in assisting agricultural producers, urban landscape professionals, municipalities, HOAs, and developers with the implementation of management practices to improve the quality of surface runoff. Dr. Haver’s research has focused on the identification, transport, fate, and mitigation of pollutants from agricultural and urban activities.

Douglas Kent,
Surfrider Foundation

Kent has been a passionate gardener since 14 years old. He was an Outdoor Salesperson at Roger’s Gardens at 23. He now manages a firm specializing in environmental horticulture, and creates landscapes and properties that benefit the watershed and atmosphere. The firm serves individuals and organizations across the state. He has a BA in environmental policy and an MS in environmental science. He was also written four gardening books and over fifty articles, appearing in such publication as Los Angeles Times, Marin Independent Journal, and Fine Gardening magazine.

Tom Larson,
Landscape and Irrigation technical advisor for Metropolitan Water District

Mr. Larson has over 35 years of experience in the landscape and green industry. He has been at the forefront in the field of landscape management and urban forestry. His work has included landscape program management, water conservation planning, nursery operations, and landscape restoration. His work experience includes landscape and irrigation assessments and management plans, and water conservation planning for municipal and private entities. Mr. Larson served on the State of California Urban Forestry Advisory Council Executive Board, one of twelve appointed professionals who advise the State’s Director of Forestry and Fire Protection on urban and community forestry matters. Mr. Larson is the past president of the Nursery Growers Association of California, the founder of the Tree Society of Orange County, past president of the Orange County Natural History Association and the past academic advisory chairman for the Forestry and Natural Resources Department of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He has served on numerous committees for the U.C. California Cooperative Extension Programs. Mr. Larson serves on the U.S Forest Service advisory committee for the Western Center for Urban Forest Research and Education. The mission of the center is to demonstrate new ways that sustainable landscapes add value to communities, converting results into financial terms. He is the irrigation and landscape technical adviser for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Cindy McNatt,
O.C. Register

Cindy McNatt has been gardening since she was 17 years old, starting with a row of corn and a hill of beans behind a little guesthouse she rented in Pasadena. She has been digging in the dirt ever since.

Today she not only still plants beans, she writes about them in the Orange County Register Newspaper. I started as a freelance writer about 15 years ago with the Tustin News, then the Los Angeles Times, and then photo styled for Sunset Magazine. I also published my own garden magazine for 5 years.

Cindy loves all things green from the first cotyledon to full-scale design, bugs in between and included. I have a short attention span, but for some reason, have never grown bored with gardening. There are too many levels to tackle them all.

Nick Mrvos,
Irvine Ranch Water District, Landscape Water Conservation Specialist

Nick Mrvos has over twenty years of experience in water efficient landscape management practices. He studied Horticulture and Landscape Irrigation Science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He is a member of the American Society of Irrigation Consultants, the California Landscape Contractor's Association, the Irrigation Association and is an I.A. Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor. Nick is also a Certified Master Gardener through the Orange County Chapter of the University of California Cooperative Extension. He has been with the Irvine Ranch Water District since 1995, and currently manages IRWD's successful landscape water conservation program.

Ron Vanderhoff,
Nursery Manager, Roger’s Gardens

Ron Vanderhoff is a lifelong southern California gardener and professional horticulturist. Ron literally grew up in the outdoors; by age five he was planting, weeding and tending to a garden of strawberries, roses, flowers and a very messy willow tree.

From his love of the outdoors and the natural world his skills include California’s invertebrates, birds and native plant communities. Ron has worked his whole life in horticulture, originally maintaining or designing impressive gardens in Newport Beach, including John Wayne’s. For the past many years he has been a leader in the local gardening community as an educator, writer, lecturer and innovator, and as the nursery manager at Roger’s Gardens.

His personal interests include climate appropriate gardens, gardening training and environmental stewardship. He is an expert plantsman and an avid plant collector, whose favorite plant is usually the one he’s holding.

Ron enjoys sharing his passion for plants and gardens and is particularly interested in “experimenting” with new plants and new techniques. He prefers “soft” horticulture, choosing to work with the natural rhythms of a garden, thus allowing the plants to be the teacher.

Dan Songster

Dan has over thirty-five years experience landscaping and gardening in Orange County, and though he still gardens with what he terms “normal” plants he began learning about and using natives in 1975 and has been happily designing, growing, and maintaining California native landscapes ever since. Dan feels strongly that our beautiful natives should be a natural component of our southern California landscapes using less water, few (if any) pesticides and fertilizers, and being absolutely unmatched as habitat for our local birds, bees and butterflies.

Active in the California Native Plant Society for over fifteen years serving on local and state boards, Dan is past President of the Orange County Chapter of CNPS, is a core member of the state CNPS Horticulture Committee, and is a charter member of the California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC). His interest in gardening with natives continues to expand and he happily experiments with various natives as Co-Director of the Golden West College Native Garden in Huntington Beach.

Dan enjoys hiking the Orange County hills, seeing how the native plants fit into local plant communities, gaining ideas about design possibilities and getting clues to help solve the mystery of which landscape situations favor various natives plants.