Rob Fiegener
Director
A botanist and ecologist by training, Rob has been with the Native Seed Network since 2002. Rob is dedicated to finding economically viable solutions to native plant materials needs. Rob holds a B.S. in Natural Resources from Humboldt State University and a M.S. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis.
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Melanie Marshall Gisler
Program Manager/Botanist
M.S. Botany, University of British Columbia
B.A. Biology, University of New Mexico
Melanie worked with the West Eugene Wetlands Program (Eugene,OR) as seed program coordinator and natural resource specialist, with the PNW Research Station (Corvallis,OR) in plant ecology research, as a field and research biologist at Zilker Botanical Garden (Austin,TX), and at the USDA Plant Materials Center, Natural Heritage Program and Long Term Ecological Research Station (Albuquerque, NM). Her specialties include seed procurement, plant breeding systems, restoration, plant conservation biology, and botanical databases.
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Matt Blakeley Smith
Plant Ecologist
Matt received a B.A. in Biology from The University of San Diego and a M.S. in Botany from Oregon State University. Matt is the Corvallis chapter president of the Native Plant Society of Oregon and founder of Native Plant Appreciation Week. As a plant ecologist at IAE since 2002, Matt specializes in the ecology and control of non-native species, endangered species propagation, and habitat restoration.
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Tom Kaye
Executive Director, Institute for Applied Ecology
Tom Kaye graduated with a B.S. from The Evergreen State College (1984) and received a master's degree (1989) and Ph.D. (2001) from Oregon State University. After working for Olympic National Park (1984-1987), he joined the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Plant Conservation Biology Program where he conducted research and contributed to policy on management of threatened and endangered plant species. He has served on the IUCN Species Survival Commission, Re-introduction Specialist Group and is a member of the Native Plant Society of Oregon.
Tom specializes in endangered species propagation and restoration, the population dynamics of rare plants, population viability analysis, and monitoring. In addition, his interests include plant-pollinator interactions and plant systematics. He has a long-standing interest in coastal vegetation, including general patterns of plant distributions on the Pacific Coast and restoration of endangered species of beaches and dunes.
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