Conservation

Conservation Team

Damon Waitt, Ph.D. - Dr. Waitt is Senior Director and Botanist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. Waitt serves as the Wildflower Center's botanical authority and is the author of the Center's Native Plant Information Network. Waitt holds a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Texas in Austin where he studied the evolutionary ecology of Phlox drummondii, an M.S. in Botany from Louisiana State University Baton Rouge for work on sex ratio evolution in sedges and a B.S. from Tulane University.  Dr. Waitt serves as the principal investigator on several projects related to the Wildflower Center’s Pulling Together Invasive Species Initiative. Dr. Waitt serves on the Invasive Species Advisory Committee for the National Invasive Species Council, is founder and past president of the Texas Invasive Plant and Pest Council, past chair of the National Association of Exotic Pest Plant Councils, chair of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Advisory Committee, serves on the Texas Invasive Species Coordinating Committee Advisory Group and is Past-president of the Texas Academy of Sciences.

Flo Oxley, M.S. - Flo Oxley is the Director of Plant Conservation at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas-Austin. Oxley provides programmatic oversight for all conservation programs.  Ms. Oxley holds a B.S. degree in Biology and an M.S. degree in Biology, and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Aquatic Resources at Texas State University-San Marcos.  She is the Chair of the Conservation Committee for the Southwestern Association of Naturalists as well as an Associate Editor for the Southwestern Naturalist, the journal for the Southwestern Association of Naturalists. Ms. Oxley is a Fellow of the Texas Academy of Science. She is the Recovery Team Leader for Spiranthes parksii (Navasota ladies-tresses), a member of the San Marcos River Restoration Group and the Edwards Aquifer Species Recovery Team. Ms. Oxley’s research interests include plant reproductive ecology, endangered species and aquatic invasive species. She has been on the Wildflower Center staff for twenty years.

Minnette Marr, M.S. - Minnette Marr holds an M.S. in Science Education from Texas Woman’s University (1991) and an M.S. in Biology from Texas State University – San Marcos (2002).  Before joining the Conservation Department of Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, she managed the Wetlands Restoration Nursery in the headwaters of the San Marcos River and monitored invasive plant species in East Texas forests.  As a plant conservationist, she collaborates with land managers and citizen scientists to collect seeds of native species for regional in situ restoration projects and national and international ex situ conservation programs.

Michael Eason, B.S. - Eason is a botanist who directed the Texas activities of the international Millennium Seed Bank Project, which stockpiled seeds from 10 percent of the world’s wild flowering species in 2010. He has trained over 150 Texas volunteers to identify native plants and collect seeds for this project during his seven years at the Center. While traveling nine months a year to collect seeds for the project, he has become an expert on native Texas landscapes. He has performed hundreds of botanical surveys across the state – from the Pineywoods of East Texas to the mountains and deserts of the Trans-Pecos down into the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. He holds a B.S. in Botany from Texas State University and is currently completing his M.S. in Botany at Sul Ross State University.

Travis Gallo, M.S. - Travis Gallo is the Invaders of Texas citizen science program’s coordinator. He holds a Master of Science degree in Biology from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi (2008). His research focused on how climate change will affect the distribution of desert rodents and their habitat. He has extensive knowledge of Texas ecosystems and the plants and animals residing in them. As coordinator of the Invaders of Texas program, Travis is responsible for all communication with volunteers, promoting the program, conducting workshops, validating all observations, public outreach dealing with invasive species, and various other invasive species related task. Locally, he has helped start the Austin Area Invasive Species Coalition and served on the Austin Urban Forestry Board. He has experience working with various stakeholder groups, such as volunteers, NGO’s and city, state, and federal governments, on invasive species issues.