Most people know Don Norman, the owner of Go Natives!, as a bird guy, but he actually has a background in botany. Starting in 1994, when Don was hired to do bird surveys at Fort Lewis, he has been connecting the birds in plots he surveyed to the plants he measured in those plots. Lots of plots. If you visit Don's house in Richmond Beach, you can see some of these ideas in practice. Through the newly created Puget Sound Bird Observatory Don has recently surveyed the madrone forests on Vashon and Maury Island, learning more about that rare habitat in Puget Sound. Don is member of Seattle Audubon's Science and Conservation Committees, a member of the Washington Native Plant Society and has used permaculture methods to create a productive as well as wildlife friendly backyard.

His yard has been featured in Audubon Magazine (See "Wooing the Wildlife"), and his yard is a designated backyard wildlife habitat as established by the WDFW and National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary programs .






This spring, Don has hired Megan Jensen, a botanist who also works at the UW Herbarium, to help keep up the inventory and assist with sales. Megan has a Master's in Botany and Conservation from Nortwestern University. Megan also worked at the Chicogo Botanic Garden where she worked on Echinacea, collecting plants and pollen for experiments on this important medicinal plant.