People & Organizations
Peter Brastow, our Founding
Director,
created Nature in the
City to help build, strengthen and unify the movement to
conserve San Francisco's natural areas and biodiversity, and
to
catalyze
ecological restoration and stewardship by connecting
urban people with the local
nature where they live. As the former National Park Service
Ecological
Restoration Specialist for the Presidio, Peter has 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.
Ellie
Billings, our Program
Assistant, is a student at City College, home of the Center
for Habitat Restoration.
Ellie is helping us with absolutely everything, as she has terrific
people and computer skills, and great enthusiasm and passion for being
part of saving nature in the city.
Maeve Johnston,
our Earth Day
Coordinator,
has a BA in Geography from UC Berkeley. A great new addition to our
team, Maeve has wonderful interpersonal skills and a terrific vision
for the 2nd Annual McLaren Park Earth Day.
Nature in the City Steering Committee
Members - Expertise
Amber Hasselbring - Artist, Designer
Brent Plater - Environmental Law
Charlotte Hill - Environmental Education
Chris Giorni - Reptile & Amphibian
Ecology/Environmental
Education
Deirdre Elmansoumi - Butterfly &
Environmental
Education
Doug Kern - Geophysics/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)
Rachel Kesel - Human Geography & Recreation
Steering 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 Neighborhood Council
& Native
Plant Nursery
Kids
in Parks
Presidio
Restoration Advisory Board
TreeFrog
Treks
Urban
Watershed Project
Other ecological organizations with which we work include Center
for Biological Diversity, Golden
Gate Audubon Society, SF League of
Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, SF
Tomorrow, Literacy for Environmental
Justice, Sustainable
Watershed Alliance 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.
