Native Plant Materials Staff
Kristin Hopkins, M.S., Native Plant Materials Program Director
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Kristin Hopkins serves as SGI’s Native Plant Materials Program Director. Based out of SGI’s headquarters in Clarksville, Kristin and the seed team serve as the lead coordinators for the Seeds of Success Southeast program in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management and Fish & Wildlife Service. Before joining SGI, Kristin was the Natural Resource Manager for the City of Murfreesboro’s Parks Department. In that capacity, she led the Natural Resource team in managing habitat in Parks’ natural areas, working with community volunteers, and developing youth-based learning opportunities for careers in designing resilient landscapes. Her passion for native plants led her to develop the Murfreesboro Indigenous Plant Project, a program that seeks to provide access to appropriate native plant materials for the community. Kristin also serves as Board Chair of the Tennessee Naturalist Program, a state-wide adult natural history course with 13 chapters across the state.
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Gus Rasich, Native Plant Materials Program Collections Manager
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Gus is SGI’s Native Plant Materials Program Collections Manager. Gus began as SGI’s Seed Technician in 2023. His interest in native seeds started when he began volunteering for SGI in August, 2022. Gus attended Virginia Commonwealth University, where he studied scientific illustration before entering a year of AmeriCorps service as an Environmental Educator. When he moved to Tennessee, he was introduced to SGI's work and is excited to have the opportunity to participate in grassland restoration efforts.
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Email: gus.rasich@segrasslands.org
Ashton Crowe, Native Plant Materials Collection Technician
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Ashton is a Native Plant Materials Collection Technician at SGI. She is originally from Kentucky and is a Murray State University alumna with a B.S. in Horticulture. During her first year of employment at the Nashville Zoo she primarily had her hands in the dirt at the historical farm, the Zoo's largest pollinator and native gardens. While awaiting her primary goal of managing the Zoo's two greenhouses, her passion for native species took root and flourished, outcompeting her love for greenhouse cultivation. As she began to witness how much habitat loss and lack of biodiversity was all around her, she was determined to set herself on a path of restoration and to return into the field. She is now a part of SGI to help propagate her love for natives to those around her, in her community, and beyond into the southeast through the collection of seeds.
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Emelia White, Seasonal Seed Cleaning Technician
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Emelia recently earned her Bachelors of Science in Biology from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Growing up in Tennessee fostered an appreciation for the state's native plants. Her work with the New Mexico Conservation Corps fueled her passion for conservation. During college, Emelia gained hands-on experience in ecological field sampling while working on the Marine Invertebrates and Seagrass project at the Bahr Lab. She is now excited to be back in Tennessee to share her love and knowledge of the natural world with SGI.