Kevin Uhlinger

For four years, Kevin Uhlinger has been a weekly volunteer with native plant propagation and maintenance at the Hilton Bialek Habitat. After retiring as a laboratory manager for a developmental biology group at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station, he attended a monthly meeting of the Native Plant Society at the Pacific Grove Natural History Museum. There he learned about the green and shade house associated with and in support of the MEarth program. He explained, “I had worked at a commercial greenhouse outside of Seattle right after finishing my undergrad and enjoyed the experience.”

Even in his early youth, he enjoyed spending much of his time in the fields and woods around upstate New York, learning about natural history and botany in 6th through 8th grade. After becoming familiar with MEarth's mission, recognizing the impact science education had on him at an early age, and how this played into his eventual career, he decided that volunteering was a worthwhile endeavor.

 

“I believe native plants are important in many ways. They define the unique niche one lives in. They have adapted evolutionarily to succeed in that environment and help support that area's endemic flora and fauna”.