Our Team
Valerie Huff
Valerie, a founding member of the Kootenay Native Plant Society (KNPS), is dedicated to conserving native plants, supporting pollinators, and restoring ecosystems. She manages the Pollination Pathway Climate Adaptation Initiative which addresses the importance of locally-sourced native plant seeds in bolstering pollination networks and supporting ecosystem resilience and climate adaptation. She holds an undergraduate degree in agronomy from the University of Guelph, as well as a diploma in Restoration of Natural Systems and a Master’s degree in restoration ecology, both from the University of Victoria. Her graduate research focused on the ecological role of native grasses in northeastern British Columbia.
Valerie’s passion and expertise extends to her work at KinSeed Ecologies, a Nelson-based ecological restoration and native seed company, and as a board member of the Native Bee Society of BC. Because of her strong commitment to native plant protection, conservation, and restoration, Valerie was the recipient of a 2021 Conservation Leadership Award, presented by the Kootenay Conservation Program.
Theresa Negreiff
Theresa is our part time Administrative Manager, covering off most of the non-program tasks that keep things running behind the scenes. She has more than 20 years of experience with nonprofits and charities in senior roles, primarily in fundraising and communications. Theresa previously worked as an organizational development consultant to build capacity in non-profits which is when she first admired the work of Valerie Huff and KNPS. She was later delighted to be invited to join the team in summer of 2022. When not at her desk, she can be found in her garden with the bees and butterflies, beachcombing on the Arrow Lake or meandering North Castlegar with her 13 year old sheepdog, the Jack of Diamonds.
Tannah Ernst
Tannah M. Ernst is a bundle of energy and blunt words whose passion for the intricacies of ecosystems led her to obtaining an Integrated Environmental Planning Diploma from Selkirk College. Her desire to not just participate in local ecological research, but make the results accessible to the general public in an approachable and easy to understand format drove her interest in GIS, which resulted in a GIS undergraduate degree from Selkirk College in 2023. Tannah has always been motivated by environmental sustainability and has worked in sustainable building and organic farming industries, with more recent work focusing watershed conservation, pollinator surveys, wild seed sourcing, and species distribution modelling. In addition to loving native plants and pollinators, Tannah is a fiend for Sudoku and spends a lot of time digging, hardscaping, and gardening at her home in Ymir.
Eva Cameron
Eva Cameron is a landscape designer who's eye for detail is applied these days to support wetland and native plant conservation and restoration projects near her home in Rossland. As a conservationist at heart she is always seeking opportunities with land stewards to apply best land management practices that may protect or restore sensitive habitats and at risk species. She enjoys adventurous exploration of the landscape around her seeking those special places that need recognition. She spends her free time on expeditions of unexplored cave systems in the Kootenays and recording bat, flora and native bee sightings in those areas to support research projects.
