Owner of Pro Native Consulting

20+ years as a botanist in Florida

A Miami native, Steve has spent much of his life exploring South Florida’s Nature. He worked as a botanist for over 20 years including stints at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, The Institute for Regional Conservation, and at Miami Dade College. For the past ten years he has owned and operated Pro Native Consulting, growing and selling native plants, and providing environmental consulting services to the community including government agencies and academic institutions, and conservation/community based nonprofit organizations.

Steve has long been involved with the Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) and the state FNPS. He has served on the Board of Directors and as president for both organizations. For the past eighteen years Steve has co-chaired the monthly Dade Native Plant Workshop, a 60-year old free resource to the public that teaches anyone how to identify native plants.

Steve is co-author of the book Rare Plants of South Florida; Their History, Conservation and Restoration published by The Institute for Regional Conservation in 2001.  He has written or co-written several dozen reports, journal articles, newsletter columns, and website-based resources. Over the past twenty years, he has given many talks and programs on plants, landscaping, and research to various government agencies and other groups. His expertise is in native plant identification, rare and exotic plant research, native plant horticulture, institution building, and award winning native plant community restoration.

Steve has a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Miami.