20. People, Plants & Pollinators 2

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20. People, Plants & Pollinators 2

📅 DateFriday, February 6
📍 AreaHall D
⏰ Time1:00 pm – 2:45 pm
Video Recording
Section 2 of 2. This session will explore the powerful connections between people, native plants, and pollinators, with a focus on how community- driven efforts can support biodiversity in both urban and agricultural landscapes. Join us to learn how everyday actions and innovative data tools are shaping the future of pollinator conservation.
SESSION CHAIRs
Jessa K. Cruz1, Patricia Bohls2

1The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Sacramento, CA, United States. 2California Department of Food and Agriculture, Sacramento, CA, United States

Jessa K. Cruz
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Jessa is the Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist for The Xerces Society serving California and the Intermountain West. Since joining Xerces in 2008, she has worked in agricultural and natural lands throughout the Western United States to create habitat for pollinators and other beneficial insects, and to promote practices that support them. Jessa holds a Master’s of Science in Environmental Entomology and Integrated Pest Management from California State University, Chico, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Sustainable Farming from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Patricia Bohls
California Department of Food and Agriculture
Patricia Bohls is a Senior Environmental Scientist (Specialist) serving as the Biodiversity Coordinator for the Office of Agricultural Resilience and Sustainability at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) since 2022. Prior to this position she was the State Apiarist and helped to implement the Apiary Protection Program with CDFA since 2018. In addition, since 2017 she has been a Part-Time Biology Professor at Napa Valley College teaching ecology. In 2017, she earned her Master of Science in Entomology at the University of California, Davis, studying honey bees (Apis mellifera) and their ectoparasite, Varroa destructor.

20.1 Reviving Habitat for Native Bees and Plants: A Practical Guide from Specimen to Site

Helen E. Payne1, Susan J. Mazer1, Katja Seltmann1,2

1University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States. 2Cheadle Center Santa Barbara, CA, United States

Description
Habitat loss is a major driver of global biodiversity decline, threatening native insects and plants alike. Ecological restoration, the process of reviving degraded habitats to support biodiversity, is a critical strategy for addressing these losses. In this work, we demonstrate how specimen data from natural history collections can be used to inform and focus habitat restoration efforts for both plants and insects. We outline key concepts and guiding questions to consider throughout the restoration process, from initial planning to long-term monitoring. These principles are applied to two southern California sites, North Campus Open Space and Coal Oil Point Reserve, where we developed targeted restoration plans for the imperiled native bumble bee Bombus crotchii. Our site- and species-specific approach includes provisioning of floral and non-floral resources, as well as strategies to increase nesting habitat. We underscore the importance of evaluating restoration outcomes and call for standardized rapid assessment protocols to guide future efforts. By identifying effective practices and success indicators, this work provides a practical framework to support native bee conservation in a time of urgent ecological need.
Presenter Bios
Helen E. Payne
University of California, Santa Barbara
Helen Payne is a PhD candidate in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara. Her research investigates how native wildflowers adapt to environmental change, with an emphasis on evolutionary potential, trait–fitness relationships, and the restoration of habitat for native insects. She combines field experiments with quantitative genetics to uncover the complex dynamics shaping plant evolution in natural ecosystems. Helen is also deeply committed to inclusive science education and has led research on how field-based courses influence student mental health, sense of belonging, and retention in STEM.

20.2 Cultivating Community and Biodiversity on a Community College Campus: The Campus Biodiversity Initiative Model

Caprice M. Disbrow, Dr. Jen D. Palladini, Nicole P. Schlumberger

Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA, United States

Description
Although urbanization greatly alters natural landscapes, cities can serve as vital pockets of native biodiversity. The Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) Campus Biodiversity Initiative, launched in Fall 2024, is working to intentionally document and enhance the diversity of flora and fauna present within its urban college grounds. This collaborative effort engages faculty, staff, students, and community partners across multiple programs, ranging from Biology and Environmental Horticulture to student clubs and cultural initiatives, to advance both research and ecological stewardship.

Over the course of its first academic year, SRJC hosted eight stewardship workdays, involving over 120 participants in habitat restoration efforts, including weeding and planting nearly 40 species, 20 of which were previously undocumented on campus. Student involvement spanned seven different courses, encompassing independent and course-based research projects in areas such as invasive species control, native plant propagation, pollinator surveys, and population estimation of native bees.

The Initiative is also developing a new culturally and ecologically significant native plant garden. This garden, combining sustainability and cultural relevance, will serve as a dynamic ecosystem and an educational resource for future ecological research and community engagement.

Collectively, the SRJC Campus Biodiversity Initiative demonstrates how a community college campus can serve as an interactive living laboratory, documenting biodiversity, engaging learners through authentic, hands-on experiences, and fostering a sense of environmental and cultural stewardship. This initiative offers a replicable model for urban biodiversity conservation and scientific engagement at educational institutions.
Presenter Bios
Caprice M. Disbrow
Santa Rosa Junior College
Caprice Disbrow is passionate about the amazing diversity and evolution of living organisms and loves helping others learn about the natural world. She holds a bachelor’s degree in plant biology from UC Davis, her master’s degree in plant ecology from Sonoma State University and worked as a professional biologist/botanist/wetland ecologist prior to falling in love with teaching undergraduates.

20.3 Reclaiming the Dunes: Reconnecting People, Plants, and an Unlikely Ambassador

Michael M. Viramontes

Rivers & Lands Conservancy, Riverside, CA, United States

Description
The Delhi sand dunes are a rare and often overlooked ecosystem home to a dynamic community of native plants and pollinators, including the federally endangered Delhi Sands flower-loving fly (Rhaphiomidas terminatus abdominalis). Due to negative public perceptions plagued by a history of bad press and a general scorn for flies, efforts to protect these resources have taken much more than your typical conservation campaign.

This presentation highlights Rivers & Lands Conservancy’s efforts to reclaim the narrative by rebranding the fly and reconnecting our community with their local landscape. By providing opportunities for the community to engage with native plant restoration and stewardship activities, such as seed collection, plantings, invasive species removal, and more – we have rehabilitated a degraded dune system while building appreciation and pride in this otherwise ignored habitat.

Attendees will gain practical ideas for engaging local communities in native plant restoration and tips for building broader public support for even the most uncharismatic species or habitats.
Presenter Bios
Michael M. Viramontes
Rivers & Lands Conservancy
Leif is a conservation biologist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, where he leads the California Bumble Bee Atlas. His research has focused on the ecology and conservation of native bees, with a focus on bumble bee interactions with plants. Leif is co-author of a standard reference manual, Bumble Bees of North America: an Identification Guide.

20.4 Restoring the Land, Restoring Ourselves: Native Plant Work Behind and Beyond Prison Walls

Lauren Beatty-Harris1, Shelagh Fritz2, Ashley Borrego3

1Land Together, Berkeley, CA, United States. 2Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, San Francisco, CA, United States. 3Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, CA, United States

Description
Native plant restoration is not limited to pristine parks or protected wildlands; it is happening in the most unexpected places, led by people too often left out of the environmental movement. This session shares the story of two living restoration sites: one inside Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), the largest women’s prison in the U.S., and the other on Alcatraz Island, a former federal prison turned national park.

At CCWF, incarcerated women grow native plants, build pollinator habitat, and reconnect with the land through hands-on ecological work. Their garden is not symbolic. It is functional, alive, and expanding. On Alcatraz, volunteers restore historic gardens that now host monarch butterflies, native bees, and a wide range of plant species once thought lost to time. Though shaped by different forms of confinement, both places are transformed through care. Through a partnership between Land Together, the National Park Service, and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, seeds and stories now move between these sites.

This session explores how restoration can serve both ecosystems and people. We invite land managers, educators, and native plant advocates to broaden their sense of what ’is possible: to see that native plant work is already thriving in “forgotten” spaces, and these projects are not only building biodiversity, but also cultivating belonging, purpose, and deep-rooted transformation.
Presenter Bios
Lauren Beatty-Harris
Land Together
Lauren Beatty-Harris is the Program Manager for Land Together, where she guides environmental education and native plant restoration programs at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. Through Land Together’s curriculum, she supports participants in building ecological literacy, practicing hands-on land stewardship, and strengthening their relationship to land in a highly constrained environment. Her work creates daily opportunities for incarcerated women to restore habitat, grow native plants, and experience learning that centers dignity, agency, and connection. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences in Regenerative and Sustainable Living from Maharishi International University and is pursuing a Master of Science in Regenerative Organic Agriculture, focusing on agroecology, cultural memory, and seed heritage. Lauren also leads the CCWF Seed Saving Initiative, helps steward in-prison farmers markets, and is developing a participant-led cookbook blending recipes with stories of food, creativity, and care, all rooted in community and land-based learning.
Shelagh Fritz
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
Shelagh began working as a horticulturist on Alcatraz in 2006. As the gardens’ senior program manager since 2009, she has been a driving force in the reclamation, interpretation, and renewal of this surprising and unexpected historic landscape. Shelagh received a Bachelor of Science in Horticultural Science and Business from the University of Guelph in Canada. She worked in Toronto at a highly manicured insurance headquarters before beginning a year-long internship at Longwood Gardens. Travelling to England, Shelagh was the horticulturist for the Duke of Northumberland at Syon House in London. Making her way to San Francisco in 2006, she became the first paid horticulturist on Alcatraz.
Ashley Borrego
Golden Gate National Recreation Area

20.5 From Nursery to Nature: Partnering with Nurseries for Pollinator-Safe Plants

Sharon Selvaggio

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Portland, OR, United States

Description
How can native plant society affiliates and their partners find or grow pollinator-safe plants for their communities? Everywhere we look, we find land managers, farmers, and home gardeners more interested than ever in managing their land sustainably, restoring native plant communities, and conserving water resources. Along with these trends, people want to contribute to pollinator conservation with native, pollinator-attractive plants. In 2022, U.S. residents spent $10.8 billion (about $33 per person) on plantings to support pollinators and other wildlife in and around their homes. However, nursery production practices can leave harmful pesticide residues on plants, undermining pollinator conservation objectives. Recent research shows that even milkweeds are commonly contaminated with multiple pesticides at the time of sale. Looking for neonicotinoid-free plants is important, but to protect pollinators, a more comprehensive approach is needed. I will discuss how the Xerces Society is overcoming the challenge to source pollinator-safe plants for our large habitat kit program and provide a roadmap for partnering with your own nurseries to ensure the plants you source are safer for pollinators.
Presenter Bios
Sharon Selvaggio
 The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Tiny, inconspicuous and underappreciated species hold our world together. On their behalf, Sharon Selvaggio leads the Xerces Society program to advance pollinator-safe nursery plant production. Sharon has worked closely with the nursery industry for the last nine years, interviewing dozens of nurseries about their pest management practices, providing grower trainings and resources in collaboration with Oregon State University, investigating consumer willingness to pay for pollinator-safe nursery practices, and piloting Xerces’ approach to sourcing nursery plants. Sharon earned her M.S. in Energy and Resources and her B.A. in Biology, both at University of California-Berkeley.

Thank you to our 2026 sponsors!

Giant Sequoia

Special thanks to Esri, our 3-time Giant Sequoia Sponsor, for making this movement stronger than ever!

Valley Oak

Manzanita

CNPS Sacramento Valley

Buckwheat

AECOM

California Invasive Plant Council

California Native Bee Society

EBMUD

H.T. Harvey & Associates

Judy and Robert Fenerty

Kleinfelder

Moulton Niguel Water District

PSOMAS

Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

California Poppy

ASCENT

Barona Band of Mission Indians

Carol Witham

Inland Empire Resource Conservation District

Land Trust of Santa Cruz County

Linda and David Chipping

Vern Goehring

Northern California Bontanists

Stillwater Sciences

East Bay Regional Parks

Northern California Botanists

Rutherford and Bransfield

Wildlife Conservation Board

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The mission of the California Native Plant Society is to protect California’s native plants and their natural habitats, today and into the future, through science, education, stewardship, gardening, and advocacy.

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