Rickie White

Southeastern Grasslands Institute

As a conservation professional since 1999, Rickie (M.A. Ecology, UNC-Chapel Hill) has conducted and overseen comprehensive species inventories and vegetation maps for the National Park Service, consulted on sustainable forest strategies for the forestry industry, established successful citizen science programs within communities, and served in leadership positions in multiple national and local conservation nonprofits. Rickie got his professional start working with Stephen Packard on oak savannah and prairie restoration in the Chicago region and has continued to be a passionate advocate for grassland conservation and restoration since then. In addition he served as Senior Regional Ecologist and Senior Project Manager at NatureServe for close to 20 years, Executive Director of the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association in Durham, NC, and most recently, principal for Lost Province Ecological LLC.

Rickie currently works from his home base in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina near the Virginia border, where he enjoys leading hikes of rare ecosystems including grassland balds, tending his flock of Navajo-churro sheep, cultivating his farm (www.hellbenderfarm.com), and traveling to experience new cultures, ecosystems, and species.