Present and Past Projects
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Current Projects · Past Education, Restoration, and Green Stormwater Infrastructure Projects · Undergraduate Research · Academic Travel
Current Projects
Nursery Manager at Sound Native Plants
The Sound Native Plants nursery is grown in 30 years of hands-on Pacific Northwest restoration research. Samantha propagates and fosters plants then ushers them to coastal and forest restoration sites as well as urban low impact development projects. Samantha explores plant-based solutions to climate change problems with large project managers, government agents, and local property owners. Learn more about Sound Native Plants at www.soundnativeplants.com
Homeward Bound Leadership Initiative Member HB6
“Homeward Bound is a ground-breaking, global leadership initiative, set against the backdrop of Antarctica, which aims to heighten the influence and impact of women in making decisions that shape our planet. Its three strategic focal points are: I am willing and able to lead; We are stronger together; and we are taking actions with impact.” Learn more about the HB experience here.
Biodiversity and Health Working Group
Samantha is a member of the new Biodiversity Working Group, an interdisciplinary team of medical professionals and assorted ecologists in HB. This group considers how ecological biodiversity intersects with human health and furthermore seeks to communicate why native biodiversity is so important to our health.
“Trailing Edge” Fire Ecology Research
Contributions include field survey of vegetative regeneration after severe wildfire, assessment of prefire canopy composition and forest type, as well as post fieldwork data entry and organization for study. Research asks if the “Trailing Edge” zone of low elevation mountain forests will return to a similar species composition after severe wildfire, or into dry shrub or scabland under the influence of warming conditions.
Understanding the “Trailing Edge” in WA State and elsewhere helps us locally observe and forecast species migration and climatic changes. These affect not only plant populations, but rangeland, game, birds, fish, insects, agriculture, fresh waterways, oceans, or in other words, total human quality of life and viability.
Samantha Elie Botanist
Samantha Elie Botanist's goal is to inspire adaptive and legacy-minded community stewardship with accessible plant-based education. Researching and writing about the intelligence of our native plants and their ecosystem services then sharing with the public is refreshing against the doom-media of climate change. Samantha Elie Botanist aims to publish an optimistically pragmatic point of view: the world is changing and plants can make it a positive one.
Youth Ecology Education through Restoration West Steward with Washington Native Plant Society
in partnership with Capitol Land Trust and the Shelton School District
Second year of support to the Youth Ecology Education through Restoration (YEER) program. The goal of this YEER project is to get students thinking about how they can increase local biodiversity and to build their relationship to the land and southern Salish Sea. The YEER project sets middle school students as restoration practitioners with concentrated class time focused on restoration ecology and working field days in the fall, winter, and spring. Field days encourage curiosity and leadership for the natural world. As part of the United Nations Decade on Restoration this action seeks to have ecological and relational impact for generations.
Learn more about this project on Washington Native Plant Society’s website www.wnps.org/youth-ecology-education. Learn more about the restoration site, Twin Rivers, on Capitol Land Trust’s website www.capitollandtrust.org/conserved-lands/conservation-areas/oakland-bay-goldsborough-creek-watershed/twin-rivers-ranch-preserve/
Initiatives That Samantha Loves To Support Whenever Possible
Haki Farmers Collective Haki Farmers collective seeks to bolster and reincorporate traditional and inherently sustainable farming knowledge that is present in our migrant and indigenous communities. Learn more at www.hakifarmers.org/
Garden Raised (u) Bounty, GRuB Growing Healthy Food, People & Community. Learn more at www.goodgrub.org/
Native Plant Salvage Foundation Providing hands-on education to protect and conserve water resources and habitat from the South Sound prairies to the shores of the Salish Sea. Learn more at www.nativeplantsalvage.org/
Washington Native Plant Society To promote the appreciation and conservation of Washington's native plants and their habitats through study, education, and advocacy. Learn more at www.wnps.org/
African Road African Road builds long term relationships with local Changemakers, for the life, health and growth of communities in East Africa. Learn more at www.africanroad.org/
Past Education, Restoration, and Green Stormwater Infrastructure Projects
Thurston County Accountability and Restitution Center Green Stormwater Infrastructure Planting
in partnership with Native Plant Salvage Foundation, Thurston County Stream Team, Thurston County, and Washington State University Thurston County Extension
Coordinated, designed, and lead volunteer plantings and subsequent upkeep events to install native and water-wise plants that buffer large amounts of stormwater from a nearby salmon-baring stream.
Jefferson County Rain Garden Installation
in partnership with Native Plant Salvage Foundation, Jefferson County Marine Resource Center, Northwest Straits Foundation, and Washington State University Jefferson County Extension
Lead volunteer installations. Rain gardens beautifully manage and filter stormwater while providing many other ecosystem services like feeding pollinators, mending degraded city soil, and sheltering small critters.
McLane Creek Riparian Stewardship
in partnership with Native Plant Salvage Foundation, Thurston County Stream Team and Washington State University Thurston County Extension
Coordinated, designed, and lead volunteers in trimming back plants along the trail with an educated eye and cleaning boardwalks and paths of large or slippery forest debris.
McLane Creek Riparian Restoration
in partnership with Native Plant Salvage Foundation, Thurston County Stream Team and Washington State University Thurston County Extension
Coordinated, designed, and lead volunteer plantings to enhance habitat for salmon and other wildlife and discourage social trails to sensitive areas of the park.
Lowland Forest, Riparian, and Estuary Restoration
in partnership with Native Plant Salvage Foundation, Capitol Land Trust, and Washington State University Thurston County Extension
Coordinated, designed, and lead volunteer plantings. Native shrubs and trees protect freshwater wetlands, marine shoreline, salmon-bearing streams, and lowland forest habitat.
Inspiring Kids Preserve
Goal: install native wetland plants in the depths of new ponds created to enhance habitat and learning. Learn more about this project on Capitol Land Trust’s website www.capitollandtrust.org/conserved-lands/conservation-areas/budd-henderson-inlets/inspiring-kids-preserve/
Harmony Farm Preserve
Goal: Revegetate retired agricultural land to rebuild native habitat. Learn more about this project on Capitol Land Trust’s website www.capitollandtrust.org/conserved-lands/conservation-areas/budd-henderson-inlets/harmony-farm-conservation-easement/
Brown Preserve
Goal: protect pristine estuary and mature forest habitat for both wildlife and people to enjoy. Learn more about this project on Capitol Land Trust’s website www.capitollandtrust.org/conserved-lands/conservation-areas/budd-henderson-inlets/brown-conservation-easement/
Darlin Creek Preserve
Goal: replant former Scot's Broom groves with native and habitat-forming flora. Learn more about this project on Capitol Land Trust’s website www.capitollandtrust.org/conserved-lands/conservation-areas/black-river-chehalis-watershed/darlin-creek-preserve/
Biological and Ecological Concepts Teacher with Heartlife Imagineering Homeschool Co-op
Middle school science instructor at a small and conservative homeschool co-op. See entry in Teachings and Trainings Facilitated below.
Wildhood Micro-Schools Forest School Program Coordinator and Instructor
Structured marketing, social media, document organization, and financial tracking strategies for an outdoor early childhood education startup. Assisted in teaching, often in Spanish, and advanced students’ social and technical skills through the Forest School model.
Undergraduate Research
Elevation Ranges of Conifers Compared in Burned and Unburned Plots in Old Growth Forest of Mount Rose, Washington
Primary research in montane terrestrial ecology · Olympia, WA · June, 2016
Survey and analysis of conifer seedling communities along an elevation gradient in burned and unburned plots to observe differences in species succession after fire.
Effect of Saltwater on Alnus rubra Photosynthesis
Primary research in coastal terrestrial ecology · Olympia, WA · June, 2016
Measured leaf respiration rate to evaluate photosynthesis in coastal alders that had submerged roots at high tide. Coastal alders were compared to inland controls.
Patterns of Intertidal Burrowing Organisms in the Southern Puget Sound
Primary research in urban shoreline marine ecology · Olympia, WA · June, 2016
Observation of intertidal burrowing life on five beaches in the southern Salish sea. Each beach was surveyed at low, mid, and high tides.
Zingiber officinale: A Case Study of Cultural Change due to Globalization
Secondary research in economic botany · Olympia, WA · March, 2016
Comparison of traditional ginger use, cultivation, and modern cash-cropping in the Himalayas and Andes.
Capitalistic tendencies of Zingiber officinale
Secondary research in economic botany · Olympia, WA · March, 2015
History of ginger as it entered the spice trade, commercialization, and traditional spiritual practice.
Hands on Plant and Food Systems in a Cloud Forest Conservancy
Primary research in cloud-forest ecology and env. education · Cusco, Peru · June, 2014
Survey, interview, and secondary research on tea growing and vegetable farming agroecological techniques, Andean market systems and food preparation. Research conducted during my internship with Pacha Conservancy, see the Academic Travel: Pacha Conservancy section for details.
Academic Travel
Habitat, Conservation, and Land Use · Khumbu region, Nepal
Organized by Wildlands Studies and accredited by California State Uni. · April - June 2015
Seven-week program focused on habitat conservation, land use, and ecology on an elevational gradient in the Nepali Himalayas. Team orientation in Kathmandu (4,593′), one-week of field studies in Chitwan National Park (330’), then five-weeks of field studies in the Himalayan foothills. Our group trekked from Jiri (elv. 6,250’) to Everest Basecamp and Mt. Kala Patthar (elv. 18,225’). Two faculty members hosted daily lectures on local plants and animals, hydrology, geography, economic botany, and the Nepali language. Field and secondary study of native and garden plants, particularly, ginger and turmeric. Presented on Zingiberaceae (ginger family) cultivation and Himalayan cultural significance to cohort.
Agroecology, Cultural Anthropology, and Linguistics · Cusco and Puno regions, Peru
Organized and accredited by The Evergreen State College; Spanish and Quechua studies with Amauta Spanish School · February - June 2014
Five-month language and cultural immersion program in the Andean mountains, primarily in Cusco and the Urubamba Valley, Peru. Program themes included subsistence agriculture and agricultural technologies, native plant medicines, and local market structures; montane and subalpine ecology; Quechua and Spanish languages. Students spent one-week in Manu National Park, studying Amazonian flora and fauna while inspecting the issue of insect trafficking; and ten days near Lake Titicaca, with focus on lake ecology and economy. Time abroad also included a three month research internship in the Lucumayu Valley Cloud Forest, see Pacha Conservancy entry below for details.
Research Internship with Pacha Conservancy · Cusco region, Peru
Lucumayu Valley, Peru · April - June 2014
Primary themes included ecological outreach and education for rural populations in Spanish and Quechua languages; montane market structures, permaculture systems, and epiphytic plant communities. Designed and installed infrastructure for an interpretive center that included traditional Peruvian-Andes terraces, vegetable garden plot, and endemic orchid interactive area. Gained technical skills including Cloud Forest plant identification, salvage, and transplant; secondary, interview, and survey research in English, Spanish, and Quechua.
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women · New York City, NY
The Working Group on Girls member and African Road representative · February - March 2012
10-day convention on issues faced by rural women and girls. Selected as a youth representative to attend policy discussions, panels, presentations, and networking events at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Part of an international team of youths that contributed to the CSW 56 Girls Statement, policy recommendations that were submitted and considered for adoption.