 Featured
Scientist:
Linda Gregory
My job as Botanist for the National Park Service is multi-faceted;
I do a variety of projects related to plant conservation
at Acadia National Park. I remove invasive non-native plants
that could damage the diverse native flora and unique habitats
in the park. I monitor rare plant populations to make sure
they are not declining. When re-vegetation is required, I
ensure that only native plants are planted.
My love of the
natural world and plants, in particular, began when I was
a child in northern California. I would ask friends and relatives
for cuttings from their
houseplants and root them in jars of water. I grew begonias, sweet potato tubers
and redwood tree burls. At one point 87 houseplants grew in my home! In fourth
grade, a local naturalist took me and my classmates on forays into the hills
behind our school to show us glorious California poppies and delicate shooting
stars. She explained how Native Americans used a plant called Indian soaproot
as shampoo and pointed out that the oaks and bay laurel trees liked to grow on
the shady sides of the hills and not in the open grassland. As a teen I loved
backpacking in Yosemite, Death Valley and Point Reyes National Seashore. Once
while backpacking in Nevada, I came face to face with a mountain lion! The natural
world was an amazing and cool place (as a true Californian would say); I loved
being in it and learning about all its wonders.
It wasn't until I moved
to Maine and took a botany class at College of the Atlantic that my real passion
for botany began. As a student there, I worked
on a flora project in Acadia National Park with my botany professor, the late
Craig Greene, and two fellow student interns. I loved being outside hiking
in the sunshine and on rainy days, using a dichotomous key
to identify my plant
collections in the herbarium. One of the most exciting and gratifying experiences
was finding populations of rare plants that hadn't been seen in over
75 years.
Now I monitor those same rare plant populations Dr. Greene
and our team found
in the late 1980's. I help protect similar natural resources as those
I enjoyed as a teen hiking in the national parks of California. I am proud
to be
a botanist for the National Park Service and I feel lucky to have such a great
job! |
