In the Life of Bees: Nesting in Darkness
This event will be recorded and posted to: The Xerces Youtube Channel When you think of bees, you probably imagine the things they do on sunny days, like flying around and …
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Jennifer Hopwood
Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist -The Xerces Society
Jennifer provides resources and training for pollinator and beneficial insect habitat management and restoration in a variety of landscapes. She oversees a team of four USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service partner biologists and works closely with the NRCS. Jennifer has authored a number of publications and articles, and is co-author of several books, including Farming with Native Beneficial Insects, 100 Plants to Feed the Bees, and a roadside revegetation manual. Jennifer has a master's degree in entomology from the University of Kansas. Along with work as a research specialist conducting invertebrate field research and identification, Jennifer was an instructor in biology and environmental science at Iowa State University and Des Moines Area Community College prior to joining Xerces in 2009.
Aaron Anderson
Pesticide Program Specialist - The Xerces Society
Aaron Anderson works with the public and Xerces staff to reduce pesticide use in residential landscapes, including promoting alternative pest control measures and pollinator-friendly gardening practices. Prior to joining Xerces in 2022, he researched pollinator conservation in urban landscapes, restored habitat for several endangered butterfly species, and worked in insect biocontrol. In 2021 he was an AAAS Mass Media Fellow at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where he reported science and business stories. Aaron has a PhD from Oregon State University, and outside of work you can probably find him riding his bike, science writing, or fiddling with old cameras.
Matthew Shepherd
Director of Outreach and Education - The Xerces Society
Matthew has worked for the Xerces Society for more than two decades, initially at the vanguard of a new movement to protect pollinators, but then on endangered species and a range of other projects. He is the long-time editor of Wings magazine, and he spent several years leading Xerces' communications effort. His current work is focused on outreach, community engagement, and conservation in towns and cities. Matthew is author of numerous articles and other publications, including Attracting Native Pollinators (Storey Publishing, 2011) and Gardening for Butterflies (Timber Press, 2016).
Laura Rost
Bee City USA Coordinator - The Xerces Society
Laura has worked in development and communications for environmental groups since 2005, and has been with the Xerces Society since 2014. She loves to connect with members and share Xerces resources with the public. She holds a bachelor's degree in environmental studies and a certificate in nonprofit management from Southern Oregon University. While at SOU, Laura led the successful student referendum to offset 100% of natural gas and electricity consumed at university facilities through the purchase of renewable energy credits (RECs), making SOU the first public university in the nation to do so. At her home in Milwaukie, Oregon, Laura is converting her yard into pollinator habitat and an urban farm. She volunteers for her local school district’s clothes closet and food bank, and serves on the board of the Milwaukie Pioneer Cemetery.
Rachel Dunham
Community Engagement Coordinator - The Xerces Society
Engagement Coordinator, Rachel has built our volunteer program from the ground up and is finding new ways for Xerces to connect to communities. As an Oregonian, she has always loved wildlife and being outdoors. Rachel pursued her passion for nature at Seattle Pacific University, graduating with a bachelor's in ecology, and earning a master's of wildlife conservation from the University of Maine. She spent years traveling between Alaska and Hawaii, working as a naturalist for the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and Princess Cruise Lines. Rachel also worked as a research associate in Panama and northern British Columbia. Before Xerces, Rachel worked at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, managing their public programs. Rachel lives in Missoula, Montana with her husband Chad and their dog Bear. They spend their time hiking, camping, and traveling the world.
Sarah Foltz Jordan
Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist Habitat Restoration Specialist, Great Lakes Region - The Xerces Society
Based out of central Minnesota, Sarah leads Xerces' upper Midwest native bee and monarch habitat restoration projects, working closely with farmers, agencies, and conservation groups to promote pollinators on farms and in natural areas. Sarah provides habitat restoration support to hundreds of farmers and farm agency professionals across the upper Midwest, with an emphasis on the testing of new, cutting-edge restoration methods on a wide range of fruit, vegetable, and grain farms. Currently she is a member of the Minnesota Governor’s Pollinator Protection Committee, and a consultant on habitat management for at-risk pollinators on public lands in Minnesota. She has authored comprehensive documents about the biology and conservation needs of nearly 200 rare invertebrates, along with numerous pollinator-related fact sheets, guidebooks, and educational tools. Sarah is also an organic apple farmer and is active in the sustainable agriculture community. She holds a master's degree.
Leif Richardson
Conservation Biologist California Bumble Bee Atlas - The Xerces Society
Leif is a conservation biologist who coordinates the California Bumble Bee Atlas project. His research focuses on the ecology, distribution, and declines of North American bumble bees. Leif previously worked as an environmental consultant, studying pesticide risk to bee pollinators, and as an ecologist for Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. He is co-author of a range of scientific publications on bees, including Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (2014, Princeton University Press), the standard reference manual on this group of insects. He is an expert in the inventory and identification of bumble bees, and has extensive experience training others to collect bumble bee distribution data in the field. Leif holds a Master’s degree from the University of Arizona and a PhD from Dartmouth College.
Rich Hatfield
Senior Endangered Species Conservation Biologist Bumble Bee Conservation Lead - The Xerces Society
Rich manages all aspects of the Xerces Society’s work on bumble bees. In addition to his skills as a research biologist, Rich also has extensive classroom teaching experience with a focus on conservation biology, ecology, and sustainability.
Kass Urban-Mead
Pollinator Conservation Specialist, NRCS Partner Biologist - The Xerces Society
Kass Urban-Mead provides technical assistance on pollinator conservation in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region. As part of this work, she assists with planning, designing, installing, and managing habitat for pollinators and other beneficial insects. Kass also works with staff and research partners to develop technical guidelines and provide training on pollinator conservation practices.
Kerry Rappold
Natural Resources Manager - City of Wilsonville
During his 21 years with the City of Wilsonville, Kerry Rappold has had responsibility for program development; compliance with local, state and federal requirements; capital project planning and implementation; stormwater management and permitting; managing enhancement and restoration projects; pollinator conservation; and environmental education. Kerry’s previous work experience has included silviculture and urban forestry, watershed management and monitoring, and regulatory review and permitting.
Chris Halsch
PhD candidate - University of Nevada Reno
Chris is a PhD candidate at the University of Nevada Reno where he studies the impacts of global change on butterfly populations, especially climate change and pesticides. This can take the form of running through the mountains with a net or slumped over a laptop in a coffee shop. When not in the mountains for work he goes to the mountains for pleasure!
Sharon Selvaggio
Pesticide Program Specialist Parks, Nurseries & Natural Areas Lead - The Xerces Society
Sharon assists Xerces staff, partners, and the public to reduce reliance on pesticides and understand pesticide risk to invertebrates. Sharon previously worked at Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service, and integrates her focus on pesticides with her experience managing natural areas and agricultural lands. Sharon earned a master's of science in energy and resources and a bachelor of arts in biology, both from the University of California, Berkeley. Sharon spends a lot of time in her vegetable garden, which has an always-buzzing insectary/pollinator patch, and she is a frequent visitor to the Pacific northwest's wildlands for recreation.
Stefanie Steele
Pollinator Conservation Specialist for Urban and Small Farms in Underserved Communities and NRCS Partner Biologist - The Xerces Society
Stefanie is the Pollinator Conservation Specialist for Urban and Small Farms in Underserved Communities and a NRCS Partner Biologist in the Upper Midwest – Detroit, Michigan area. Through this work, she provides technical assistance, planning, and education on incorporating pollinator and other beneficial invertebrate habitat in small urban agricultural areas and community gardens in historically excluded communities. Her work supports projects including the Xerces Habitat Kit Program, People’s Garden Initiative, and NRCS Conservation Programs through the USDA Farm Bill.
Mace Vaughan
Pollinator and Agricultural Biodiversity Co-Director - The Xerces Society
Mace Vaughan serves as the Xerces Society’s Pollinator and Ag Biodiversity Conservation Program Co-Director, and as a Conservation Entomologist and Partner Biologist to the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) West National Technology Support Center in Portland, Oregon. Mace has led Xerces’ Pollinator Conservation Program since 2003 and has acted as a Partner Biologist to the NRCS since 2008. In his tenure at the Xerces Society, the pollinator program has grown from a small pilot project on California farms to a national program implementing pollinator conservation projects across the U.S. Mace co-leads a team of 25 pollinator conservation specialists and several consultants across the U.S., and now helps to supervise the world’s largest pollinator conservation team.
Aaron Anderson
Pesticide Program Specialist - The Xerces Society
Aaron Anderson works with the public and Xerces staff to reduce pesticide use in residential landscapes, including promoting alternative pest control measures and pollinator-friendly gardening practices. Prior to joining Xerces in 2022, he researched pollinator conservation in urban landscapes, restored habitat for several endangered butterfly species, and worked in insect biocontrol. In 2021 he was an AAAS Mass Media Fellow at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where he reported science and business stories. Aaron has a PhD from Oregon State University, and outside of work you can probably find him riding his bike, science writing, or fiddling with old cameras.
Emily May
Pollinator Conservation Specialist Agricultural Lead - The Xerces Society
Emily May is a Pollinator Conservation Specialist with the Xerces Society's Pesticide Program. She received a master's of science in entomology from Michigan State University, and has studied pollinator habitat restoration, bee nesting habits, and the effects of pest management practices on wild bee communities. Her work with Xerces since 2015 has focused on supporting crop pollinators through habitat creation and protecting bees and other beneficial insects from pesticides.
Dr. Avalon C.S. Owens - The Rowland Institute at Harvard
Dr. Avalon C.S. Owens (
Matthew has spent more than 35 years working with people from all walks of life to create better places for wildlife. His career began in England and took him to Kenya before his arrival in the United States. He has worked for the Xerces Society for two decades, initially at the vanguard of the movement to protect pollinators, but he shifted to communications, and now community engagement and conservation in towns and cities. Matthew is author of numerous articles and other publications, including Attracting Native Pollinators (Storey Publishing, 2011) and Gardening for Butterflies (Timber Press, 2016).
Laura Rost, Bee City USA Coordinator
Laura supports communities working to reduce pesticide use and protect native pollinators. She has been with the Xerces Society since 2014, first working in membership. Before Xerces, she worked for a variety of environmental groups on issues ranging from instream water rights to green building. Laura holds a bachelor's degree in environmental studies and has a certificate in nonprofit management from Southern Oregon University (the first Bee Campus affiliate!).
Alex Schultz is the Executive Director of Sculpture Valley, a non-profit advocacy group for public arts established in 2011 to restore, protect and promote public arts in the Fox Valley. Since it’s inception, the group has worked with the city and community leaders to address the neglect of the city’s sculptural and memorial assets, successfully lobbying to establish a public fund in 2015 for future restoration and preservation efforts. Alex is the Alderperson for District 9 in Appleton and has served as the co-chair of the Pollenablers-Fox Cites group since its inception. He has worked alongside his counterparts on Council, now including Alderperson Del Toro and longstanding co-chair, Vered Melzer to propel environmental and social initiatives forward and was the co-author of the first No Mow May resolution in the United States.
Israel Del Toro
Israel Del Toro Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at Lawrence University in Appleton WI. His research focuses on the ecology and conservation of social insects.
Jessa Kay Cruz - Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist, California and the Intermountain West - The Xerces Society
Jessa is the Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist for The Xerces Society in California, and a partner biologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. She manages and coordinates many aspects of the pollinator program in California and throughout the western United States. Since joining Xerces in 2008, she has worked in agricultural and natural lands throughout the western U.S. to create habitat for pollinators and other beneficial insects, and to promote practices that support them. She provides education and technical support to a range of individuals and agencies, including farmers and ranchers, agricultural professionals, and land managers. 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.
Kaitlin Haase - Southwest Pollinator Conservation Specialist - The Xerces Society
As the Southwest Pollinator Conservation Specialist, Kaitlin works to create climate-resilient, connected pollinator habitat in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. She collaborates with and educates public and private urban land managers in New Mexico and the desert Southwest on pollinator-friendly practices for landscaping, gardening, and open space restoration. She holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Northern Arizona University, where she studied impacts of drying on aquatic invertebrate diversity in natural and human-made ponds. Before graduate school, she worked as an ecological science technician in a variety of systems across the US, including predator-prey ecology in Michigan, riparian restoration in Virginia, and rare species monitoring in Massachusetts.
Sharron Selvaggio
Pesticide Program Specialist, Parks, Nurseries & Natural Areas Lead - The Xerces Society
Sharon assists Xerces staff, partners, and the public to reduce reliance on pesticides and understand pesticide risk to invertebrates. Sharon previously worked at Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service, and integrates her focus on pesticides with her experience managing natural areas and agricultural lands. Sharon earned a Master of Science in energy and resources and a Bachelor of Arts in biology, both from the University of California, Berkeley. Sharon spends a lot of time in her vegetable garden, which has an always-buzzing insectary/pollinator patch, and she is a frequent visitor to the Pacific northwest's wildlands for recreation.
Mikl Brawner
Founder and Co-owner - Harlequin's Gardens
Mikl Brawner got his initial training along the creeks and woods of eastern Iowa. He studied biology at the University of Iowa, then went to India with the Peace Corps. Back in America, he managed a small organic apple orchard, and operated a tree care business. Studying plants, researching alternatives to pesticides, and developing a xeriscape garden led him from the treetops to a plant nursery. Now the evolving Harlequin’s Gardens is his lifework, helping the gardening community to bring nature into their personal lives and homes using sustainable plants, materials and methods. His current passion is soil health and energy-efficient greenhouses. He was honored with the 2009 PaceSetter Award for the Environment.
As the Wisconsin Pollinator Conservation Specialist, Micah provides technical assistance to agricultural producers, land stewards, and community groups interested in creating and protecting pollinator habitat. Previously, Micah worked as an ecologist for a WI non-profit where he supported land owners in achieving their habitat protection and restoration goals; and, for a county parks department where he developed and led creative conservation activities and programming for youth and community groups. Micah holds a Master’s degree in restoration ecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied plant community change in remnant hillside prairies in the Driftless region. He enjoys canoeing, dabbling in jewelry metal art, and growing as many onions and garlic as he and his family can fit in their small garden.
Ray Moranz - Grazing Lands Pollinator Ecologist, Partner Biologist for the NRCS Central National Technology Support Center - The Xerces Society
Ray works to conserve pollinators on rangelands in the central U.S., and he also serves as a Partner Biologist to the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Central National Technology Support Center in Fort Worth, TX. He is based at the NRCS Field Office in Stillwater, Oklahoma. One focus of his work is to assist in the planning and implementation of monarch butterfly conservation efforts in the south central U.S.. Ray began studying the effects of fire and grazing on prairie plant and butterfly communities in 2004, and earned his Ph.D. in natural resource ecology and management from Oklahoma State University in 2010. Prior to joining the Xerces Society, he worked for The Nature Conservancy in Florida, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in California, Iowa State University, and Oklahoma State University.
Emily May - Pollinator Conservation Specialist Agricultural Lead - The Xerces Society
Emily May is a Pollinator Conservation Specialist with the Xerces Society's Pesticide Program. She received a master's of science in entomology from Michigan State University, and has studied pollinator habitat restoration, bee nesting habits, and the effects of pest management practices on wild bee communities. Her work with Xerces since 2015 has focused on supporting crop pollinators through habitat creation and protecting bees and other beneficial insects from pesticides.
As a Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation Specialist and a Partner Biologist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Kelly provides technical assistance on pollinator conservation in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region. This work includes planning, designing, installing, and managing habitat for pollinators. Kelly also works with staff and research partners to develop technical guidelines and provide training on pollinator conservation practices. Kelly completed her master’s Degree in entomology at Iowa State University where she conducted research on the development of best practices for conserving native bees and beneficial insects in agricultural landscapes.
Header Photo Credit: Dickinson College Bee Campus USA Committee
Leif Richardson - Conservation Biologist & California Bumble Bee Atlas - Xerces Society
Leif is a conservation biologist who coordinates the California Bumble Bee Atlas project. His research focuses on the ecology, distribution, and declines of North American bumble bees. Leif previously worked as an environmental consultant, studying pesticide risk to bee pollinators, and as an ecologist for Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. He is co-author of a range of scientific publications on bees, including Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (2014, Princeton University Press), the standard reference manual on this group of insects. He is an expert in the inventory and identification of bumble bees, and has extensive experience training others to collect bumble bee distribution data in the field. Leif holds a Master’s degree from the University of Arizona and a PhD from Dartmouth College.
Isis Howard - Endangered Species Conservation Biologist, Western Monarch Community Science - Xerces Society
As an endangered species conservation biologist, Isis works in California to protect and support the western population of monarch butterflies. She manages several community science projects, including the annual Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count and the Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper, and provides support to land managers and the public on maintaining and restoring western monarch breeding habitat. Prior to joining Xerces, Isis worked for a resource conservation district and the North Coast Soil Hub, advancing climate adaptation work in the agricultural sector, engaging diverse community partners, and expanding the RCDs' western monarch and pollinator program. Originally from Sonoma County, CA, Isis is an experienced outdoor educator and holds a bachelor's degree in environmental management and protection with a minor in biology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. In her free time, Isis enjoys listening to podcasts, trying new creative outlets, and advocating for diversity and inclusion in the outdoors.
Laurie Hamon
Endangered Species Conservation Biologist
The Xerces Society
Laurie is the project manager for the Southeast Bumble Bee Atlas, a community science project to track and conserve bumble bees in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. She earned her PhD at North Carolina State University, where she conducted her thesis on the pollination ecology of Venus flytraps. She has conducted survey work for multiple rare insect species and investigated insect communities in urban pollinator gardens. Laurie has previous experience coordinating a community science project to monitor butterflies at a biological reserve in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. When the work day ends, Laurie enjoys making art and spending time outdoors.
Header Photo Credit: Bee Campus East Carolina University, NC