2024 Rare Care Spring/Summer Team
Rare Care’s team has changed once again this year. We would like to welcome all of the new faces and recognize the returning staff who make our work possible.
In late 2023, Andrea Cummins was hired as the new Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator–most of you have probably already seen a flood of emails from her this year. Andrea is a past Rare Care volunteer (several years past) and is very pleased to once again be a part of a program that plays such an important role in plant conservation and lands managment across the state. Andrea’s background is in environmental horticulture and education, wetland ecology, and volunteer management. She has recently moved back to Washington and is excited to return to the strong native plant and conservation community in our state.
Teddy Pierson returns to us for another field season as the Rare Care Field Technician. They will once again assist with the Wenatchee Mountains checker-mallow (Sidalcea oregana var. calva) projects, the Umtanum desert buckwheat outplantings study at Mountain Home and introductions at Hanford Reach National Monument, and Spalding’s catchfly (Silene spaldingii) seed collection in Lincoln County. Rare Care is very excited to have Teddy return and continue the great work they did last season.
We are also excited to have Erik Ertsgaard join our team this year. Erik will be based in Mt Rainier National Park for the summer where he will be surveying and assessing rare plant communities throughout the Park. Erik will graduate in June with a BS in Environmental Science and Terrestrial Ecology. While a student he served as president of the student chapter of SER (Society for Ecological Restoration) and site manager at Heron Haven, a 4-acre forested area on campus near Anderson Hall. Erik plans a career in plant community ecology research with graduate school on the horizon.
Wyatt Mojo started work as our spring quarter intern in late March. Wyatt is a sophmore in Environmental Science at UW where his interest are in plant conservation and field biology. This spring, he will get to learn much of what we do at Rare Care: working in the Miller Seed Vault collection, conducting germination tests and data recording, planting ERCO seedlings to prepare for outplanting later this fall, helping create assignment packets for our RPM volunteers, and write rare plant descriptions for our nominations at the Center for Plant Conservation.
Allie Howell and Wendy Gibble make up the rest of the Rare Care team. Allie will continue as our Research Scientist, leading field work for numerous special projects, which include outplantings, germination and propagation work, and data collection throughout the state. Wendy will continue to provide leadership and steer the ship that is Rare Care, and provide field support as needed.