Understory Stewards

What We Offer

We offer ecologist-led restoration guidance tailored to landowners in Southwest Oregon who want to restore native herbaceous understory—in meadows, oak woodlands, and fire-adapted forests.

To ensure the greatest ecological benefit and wise use of limited seed and staff capacity, participation in Understory Stewards begins with a two-step Program Fit Assessment, followed by the option to select further services or packages.

Who It's For

  • Landowners in Jackson or Josephine County

  • Land recently thinned for fire risk or otherwise disturbed

  • People restoring oak woodland/savana, meadow, or dry conifer forest understory

  • Gardeners looking to expand pollinator habitat with native plants

How It Works

Our process is designed to ensure that projects we support have the greatest possible ecological impact—and a strong chance of success.

  1. Submit the Intake Form (required)
    Let us know your goals, location, and general site information.

  2. Book Your Program Fit Assessment (required)
    We'll schedule a 30-minute call ($75), followed by a 1-hour site visit ($300).

  3. Site Review & Fit Determination
    Our ecologist will review your site’s characteristics and your goals to determine if it’s a strong match for native understory restoration.

  4. Select Your Services
    If accepted, you’ll be invited to choose from our menu of à la carte services or full project packages. Payment is due before service delivery.

  5. Start Your Restoration
    We’ll provide a restoration plan, seed access, and follow-up as outlined in your selected package.

Intake Form

Ready to work together?
Use our intake form to get started, or email us at info@understoryinitiative.org with questions

Understory Stewards Intake Form

What is the Understory Stewards Program?

Understory Stewards is a landowner-focused restoration assistance program offered by The Understory Initiative. We help you plan and implement native plant restoration in meadows, oak woodlands, and fire-adapted forest understories—especially on lands that have been thinned or treated for fuels reduction.

If you're ready to bring back native wildflowers and grasses, support pollinators, or simply steward your land with ecological care, we’re here to help.

**We do not provide technical assistance for riparian restoration, forest thinning, or livestock management. Our niche is guiding native herbaceous understory establishment.

Meet our Ecologists

Vanessa Robertson-Rojas’ interests in ecology began as a studio artist, and slowly evolved into her current work as a plant and restoration ecologist through the mentorship of empowering female scientists. She appreciates the complex and nonlinear nature of natural systems and seeks to perform meaningful work in the Rogue Basin.

Kathryn Prive is a systems thinker and collaborative leader passionate about redefining how we approach ecological restoration. As the founder of The Understory Initiative (TUI) and the Rogue Native Plant Partnership (RNPP), she has dedicated her career to building partnerships that drive innovation in native plant restoration and seed production.

Meet the Seed Growers

We partner with local native seed growers to provide seeds for our projects
White Oak Farm
White Oak Farm

White Oak Farm in Williams OR grows a wide variety of woody and herbaceous plants that we use to start seed beds or in active restoration projects

Hedgerow Farms
Hedgerow Farms

Hedgerow Farms was founded in the 1980’s with a vision of growing high-quality native seed while also cultivating knowledge and passion for ecological restoration. Hedgerow Farms provides seed of known genetic origin for a wide variety of large-scale conservation and habitat restoration projects across California.

Banyan Farm - Willams OR
Banyan Farm - Willams OR

Banyan Farm in Williams, Oregon, this 20-acre certified organic farm grows vegetables and both western herbs, some of which have been incorporated into Banyan products. 

BFI Native Seeds LLC
BFI Native Seeds LLC

BFI Native Seeds LLC is commited to preserving local genetics and keeping native grass and forb source-identified seeds available for restoration.

Kathryn Prive - Ecologist/Seed Grower
Kathryn Prive - Ecologist/Seed Grower

Kathryn grows native seed for TUI projects at our seed cleaning facility outside of Ashland by Emigrant Lake at the Sampson Creek Preserve. She is also an ecologist and the Executive Director for TUI.

Oregon Wholesale / Triangle Farms
Oregon Wholesale / Triangle Farms

Triangle Farms is a 6th generation family farm and is one of the most diverse farms on the West Coast of the United States. We produce turf, forage and native grass seeds as well as legume, native, wildflower, forbs, garden flower, herb, cover crops and pollinator seeds for wholesale and government agencies throughout the world.

Henry Whitridge - Ecologist / Seed Grower
Henry Whitridge - Ecologist / Seed Grower

Henry’s farm is located between Talent & Phoenix. He is also one of TUI’s ecologists.

Moody Meadows
Moody Meadows

Moody Meadows is located in Medford Oregon. They grow native and horticultural seed crops.