• Nichole, holds a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Arizona (Horticultural emphasis), and a M.S. in Botany from Arizona State University.
• Nichole’s professional experience includes: horticultural staff at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix Arizona, over a decade as a field biologist working in the southwest and for two years in the Ecuadorian Amazon with an international team, and 16 years as founding Director of the Highlands Center for Natural History in Prescott Arizona.
• Under Nichole’s leadership, the Highlands Center expanded from a small, non-profit environmental education organization in 1991 to one that is thriving and annually serving over 10,000 children and adults in its programs.
She designed and was a key educator in programs and led the organization to develop its new environmental education center in partnership with the Prescott National Forest. This outdoor learning site includes three miles of trails, the 100 seat Kiwanis amphitheater, demonstration gardens and constructed wetlands, and the beautiful 4300 square foot James Learning Center that was completed in January 2007 and the project received LEED Gold Certification in 2008 for its green features.
While at the Center she initiated drew upon her horticultural and botany background to develop the Grow Native! Plant Sale and instigated the school habitat learning gardens that are now part of the educational program at three Central Arizona schools.
• She is author of Landscapes for the Highlands: A photographic and informational guide to native plants suiltable for landscape desing in the mid-to high-elevation range of Arizona and New Mexico (2009). She is a co-author and the editor of Wildscaping: A Native Plant Gardening Guide.
A new book, Landscapes for Childhood is currently under development.
• Throughout Nichole’s life and professional career she has been passionately dedicated to educating people about living as part of their natural environment. She has been acknowledged in publications and by awards for her innovation in creating programs and designs that promote the understanding of the complex interrelationships of life.
