Laura A. Hanson, Principal Vegetation Ecologist and Production Manager

Laura Hanson received her MS in Environmental Science at California State University, Hayward where she studied the ecology of eelgrass habitats in San Francisco Bay.  As a contributing scientist for the Wetlands Ecosystem Goals Project she wrote Plants of Shallow Subtidal Habitat and Tidal Flats and worked in conjunction with others on the Plants Focus Team. At the 2000 Cal Fed conference in Sacramento Laura presented data related to changes in invasive plant cover and a visual representation of changes in wetland species composition after tidal enhancement.

Laura has monitored vegetation changes at the Point Edith Marsh Complex and McNabney Marsh for Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control District and Mt. View Sanitary District. She has conducted rare plant surveys and mapping for the federally listed Cordylanthus mollis ssp. mollis. Laura is a member of the McNabney Marsh Management and Advisory Committee. Working as a free-lance naturalist for local organizations she has participated in Save the Bay’s Canoes in Sloughs Program, leads native plant walks for California Native Plant Society and has held workshops on native plant propagation for Friends of Alhambra Creek, Alhambra Adult School, the Master Gardeners, and Richmond High School. Laura is a partner in The Watershed Nursery, a nursery dedicated to growing site-specific native plants providing services for use in restoration projects around San Francisco Bay.