Friday Classes

Justin Bush was hired as the executive coordinator to the Washington Invasive Species Council in 2016. Justin has been working on invasive species issues since 2008 with federal, state, regional, and local organizations including King County, Skamania County, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin where he managed the Texasinvasives.org statewide partnership. During these years, he has been involved in various projects to prevent, detect, and control both aquatic and terrestrial invasive species and is passionate about reducing the threat they pose to the economy, native species and ecosystems. When not working to stop invasive species, Justin can be found kayaking, SCUBA diving, riding motorcycles, and traveling.

Anne Schuster has a passion for botany and creating change through environmental education. She received her Masters of Conservation Science from the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia, and her Bachelors of Science & Art from the Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Washington, in botany and scientific illustration. Before starting as the Education Specialist for the Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board, she worked in riparian habitats with Washington Department of Transportation and Thurston County Water Resources, in habitat management with Wolf Haven International, and in grassland restoration and on native seed farms with the Center for Natural Lands Management. 

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist.  She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture, and holds two affiliate associate professor positions at University of Washington. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. In 2020, she was named the new editor for the Western Arborist magazine.  Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest book is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019), which has won several national awards since its publication.  In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s educational contributions to science-based information have been recognized by such groups as Garden Communicators International, the National Association of County Agricultural Agents, and the International Association for Arboriculture.

 Mark Turner is a freelance editorial photographer specializing in botanical subjects, especially Northwest wildflowers and gardens. He photographs extensively for books and magazines both in gardens and in a wide range of native plant environments. Mark is the photographer of the award-winning Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest and Bellingham Impressions. His latest book, with co-author Ellen Kuhlmann, Trees and Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest, was published by Timber Press in 2014. He’s working on another book for Timber, Weeds of the Pacific Northwest, to be published in 2024. He lives in Bellingham, Washington with his husband, where he also runs a portrait business specializing in family portraits. 

Dr. Neff earned his bachelor’s degree and doctorate from the University of Washington. For the past twelve years, Dr. Neff has been the Director of the Plant Sciences Graduate Program at Washington State University (WSU), which has been ranked as one of the top five in plant-related research by the U.S. National Research Council. Dr. Neff has an active research program that includes the training of 10 Ph.D. students, 3 M.S. students, and nearly 100 undergraduate researchers. Dr. Neff's research has focused, primarily, on how plant use light as a source of information and how those pathways interact with plant hormones to regulate development. Dr. Neff is also the head of WSU's Grass Breeding and Ecology Farm where he is focusing on breeding new varieties of grasses (both native and turf) for land reclamation, water management and the lawn of the future. Dr. Neff is an inventor of two awarded patents and a third that was filed by WSU.

Cathi is past president of the Master Gardener Foundation of Spokane County, former Plant Sale lead, former Cabin Fever & Conversations on Nature lead, and current lead for Promotions Team. She has been a Master Gardener since 2008.   She is a retired Speech Language Pathologist and current educator with Eldergrow, a company that provides indoor gardening experiences for residents of skilled nursing and memory care communities. She has a certificate in Horticultural Therapy.  
 

John has been a Master Gardener since 2011. He has served as VP and President for the Yakima MG Foundation, and currently serves as Secretary of the State MG Foundation.  In the Yakima Master Gardeners he has been a co-leader for the Spring Symposium, 2017 Advanced Education Conference, Heirloom Garden, A/V Team, and the new Memorial Food Garden, while participating in most other teams and activities.   Degrees in Religion, Psychology, and Education somehow landed him in a 30-year career in the restaurant business, followed by a second career as a computer consultant. Studying and drinking Northwest wines and reading for pleasure are activities he enjoys beyond being in the garden. 

Alice Slusher is an 11-year MG Veteran and has received the  Presidents Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, she received the MGFWS Media Award. She's been involved in editing and uploading recorded Zoom workshops and maintaining extensive educational resources on the Foundation's website. She organized the 3-session, Zoom-based Advanced Master Gardener Training attended by over 200 Master Gardeners in the PNW. Alice learned that problems can occur even with detailed preparation.  

Jessica Allen is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Eastern Washington University and the Co-Chair for the IUCN SSC Lichen Specialist Group. Her research focuses on lichen conservation and genomics, and she is primarily interested in untangling the factors that shape species distributions using an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates biodiversity informatics, population genomics, and landscape genetics. She recently co-authored the book, Urban Lichens: A Field Guide for Northeastern North America, which was published by Yale University Press. 

Jessica earned her Ph.D. from the City University of New York Graduate Center and The New York Botanical Garden and conducted post-doctoral research at The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, WSL before beginning her position at EWU. 

Tim Kohlhauff is the urban horticulture program coordinator for WSU’s Spokane County extension office.  He works with trees, and has lead the local Master Gardener volunteer program since 2012.  He is an adjunct instructor at Spokane Community College where he has taught Arboriculture, Advanced Arboriculture, and Plant Problem Diagnosis classes. 

For 10 years, Tim was the arborist at the Spokane Country Club, now Kalispell Golf & Country Club.  He has been an ISA-certified arborist since 2004. He was part of the WSU team that developed this online training. 

Dr. Kathleen Wolf is a Research Social Scientist (retired, affiliate) at the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington. Following earlier career work as a biologist, environmental planner and landscape architect she completed her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan. She then implemented a multi-decade research program at the University of Washington to investigate human response to outdoor spaces in cities, using theory and methods of environmental psychology. Dr. Wolf's mission is to discover, understand and communicate human behavior and benefits, as people experience nature in cities and towns. She was also research associate with the US Forest Service Pacific NW Research Station collaborating on studies of social dimensions of urban forestry and ecosystems. The research messages have broad appeal - Dr. Wolf has presented her work throughout the United States, in Australia, Russia, Canada, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Chile, Columbia, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Kathy is committed to science translation and outreach and actively shares research at  www.naturewithin.info; and the Green Cities: Good Health project.

Jim Kropf is currently the Natural Resources Program Director for WSU Extension. He is also the Director of County Administration for the 40 extension offices across the state and the County Director for WSU Pierce County Extension. He has been a faculty member for WSU Extension for 44 years. He was the Area Agronomist in Chelan and Douglas Counties for 14 years followed by four years as the Area Horticulturalist for Pierce and King Counties. 

In addition to providing technical production skills for farmers, he focused on direct marketing, training new farmers, and on-farm research related to horticultural crops. 

He continues to provide training and leadership for the Master Gardener program. He has a B.S. and M.S. in Agronomy from Washington State University.

Sue Goetz, CPH, ecoPRO, is an award-winning garden designer, writer, and speaker.  Through her business, she works with clients to personalize outdoor spaces-from garden coaching to complete landscape design. Her design work has earned gold medals at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show and specialty awards, including the Sunset magazine, the Fine Gardening magazine, and The American Horticultural Society Awards.  Writing and speaking are other ways Sue shares her love for the garden offering seminars and hands-on workshops. 

A published author, Sue shares her passion for herb gardens with her books and The Complete Container Herb Gardening, A Taste for Herbs, and The Herb-Lover’s Spa Book.  Other published writings include Fine Gardening Magazine, APLD Designer, Pacific Horticulture, and The American Gardener by AHS. . 

As a member of the farm program team, Nate develops and implements programs that support farmers, the farming community, and all others involved in organic, sustainable, and regenerative food production.

Most recently he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate with WSU’s, Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR). There, his research focused on the beneficial use of recycled organic materials as soil amendments, but he also evaluated various strategies for cover cropping and composting. As the Farm Program Director for Tilth Alliance he hopes to help local, regional, and statewide producers find solutions to their problems. 

When not digging in the dirt, he enjoys, running, reading, cooking, and hiking.

Kelsey King is a Ph.D. candidate at Washington State University in Vancouver studying at-risk butterflies and their nectar resources. 

Her dissertation research focuses on finding ways to increase the populations of butterflies through improving the nectar community. 

Kelsey has worked at locations throughout Washington and Oregon, as well as Nebraska and Iowa prior to her time at Washington State University.

Phyllis has been a Master Gardener since 2007. She was one of the founders of Yakima Master Gardeners Heirloom Garden and Seed Library and co-chaired this project for 8 years; was editor of the Yakima MG Newsletter for 11 years, and WA State Master Gardener of the Year in 2015. 

Phyllis grew up in WA and has lived in Yakima for 18 years. Her love affair with gardening started as a toddler playing in her grandma’s garden. She had two very different gardening examples—her grandma who always gardened organically even when it was considered to be old fashioned and her mom who believed that chemicals in the garden were the wave of the future. 

By the 1970s organic gardening was once again ‘cool’ so Phyllis followed in her grandma’s footsteps. 

Her interest is in no-till and organic gardening techniques; growing vegetables year round; saving seed including rare and endangered varieties; and increasing pollinator habitat. 

Amber Noskoff is the SNAP-Ed program coordinator senior at WSU Whatcom County Extension and serves as a regional SNAP-Ed data specialist. She graduated from The Evergreen State College with a Bachelor of Science in Health Education, and has spent the last 14 years working to improve the health in her community through food access connection and advocacy for low-income families and individuals. Amber lives in east Whatcom County with her husband, daughter, and two dogs, and loves spending time outside and in nature.

Beth Chisholm is the WSU Whatcom Extension Community Horticulture coordinator, which includes the Master Gardener program, Master Composer Program and Community Food Garden support. She enjoys connecting people and volunteers to meaningful work.  Building relationships that support the mission of WSU.  Gardening with youth and at risk Populations is near and dear to her.  When she's not in the garden you can find her in the kitchen on the trails with her dog and kids.