About the NPC Instructors
Lynn Becker, an NYBG-certified landscape designer and horticulturist, is the founder of Trout Lily Garden Design, which emphasizes native and pollinator-friendly plants and sustainable gardening practices. She studied in the Go Native U program at Westchester Community College and continues to teach and lecture about designing healthy and beautiful landscapes in residential and public spaces. Her gardens are frequently included in the Pollinator Pathways garden tours.
Patricia Butter is a botanist and the garden manager and educator at The Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College. She is currently conducting floras of Ward Pound Ridge Reservation and Rockefeller State Park Preserve. She holds a certificate in botany from The New York Botanical Garden, where she also teaches; a certificate in sustainable gardening with native plants from Go Native U at Westchester Community College; and a BFA from Pratt Institute.
Joshua DiPaola is the natural resource specialist for Rockefeller State Park Preserve, where he oversees wildlife conservation and ecosystem management for more than 1,700 acres. He has a master’s degree in animal behavior and conservation and has worked across several conservation capacities. His experience includes working for Central Park Zoo and an aquatics lab, volunteering at a wildlife rehabilitation center, supporting a disease ecology project at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, and performing field research on critically endangered wildlife in Southeast Asia.
Kim Eierman is an ecological landscape designer and environmental horticulturist specializing in native plants. She is the founder of EcoBeneficial LLC based in Westchester County. Kim teaches at several institutions, presents nationwide on ecological landscape topics, and provides horticultural consulting and landscape design to residential, municipal, and commercial clients. She is the author of The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening.
Missy Fabel is an ecological landscape designer and horticulturist with a focus on native plants. She works as an ecological landscape manager on private estates in Westchester and Orange counties and as a freelance native plant designer and consultant. Missy has a certificate in botany from The New York Botanical Garden and a certificate in sustainable gardening with native plants from Go Native U at Westchester Community College, where she is on the Steering Committee of The Native Plant Center.
Lindsey Feinberg is curator of the native plant program at Westchester County’s Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center, where she supports the native plant and seed growing operations. She also manages wild seed collection throughout the county. Lindsey trained as a seed collector under the Bureau of Land Management’s Seeds of Success program in partnership with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Seed Bank, to collect seeds for restoration and resiliency along the East Coast. Her work has included monitoring plant populations, stewarding wetlands, removing invasive species, restoring degraded habitat, and teaching environmental education to students in New York City.
Bob Finkelstein, who had a long career as an environmental toxicologist, is co-chair of The Native Plant Center Steering Committee and co-president of Healthy Yards New Rochelle, where he transformed his yard into a native plant and Pollinator Pathway garden. He is also a member of the New Rochelle School District Green Initiatives Education Committee, working to facilitate the implementation of environmentally sustainable practices.
Michael Hagen is curator of the Native Plant Garden and Rock Garden at The New York Botanical Garden. Previously, he served as staff horticulturist for Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, New York, and as garden manager at Rocky Hills in Mount Kisco, New York.
Duncan Himmelman, PhD, is the former education manager at Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware. He earned his doctorate in ornamental horticulture at Cornell University, taught college during a 24-year span in the U.S. and Canada, and currently operates a landscape design and horticultural consulting business in the tri-state area.
Carolle Huber is a landscape architect who practices suburban ecology in New Jersey and the Catskills, with a focus on creating landscapes that are environmentally sustainable and cause no harm to future generations. She holds degrees in environmental science and landscape architecture. An award-winning practitioner, Carolle is widely published, including in Edible Jersey and Wild Ones.
Sarah Kornbluth, a field associate at the American Museum of Natural History, is a native bee specialist and an expert at identifying bees to species. She conducts ecological research and surveys to examine bee communities and explore the function of habitat management regimes, and has worked on powerline rights-of-way across the country, in agricultural areas, and in urban and suburban sites.
Ann Perkowski is principal of Lady Clippers, Inc., a boutique landscaping firm that specializes in fine-garden hand pruning. She is a Master Gardener and travels extensively to study proper and creative pruning techniques, including a recent residency at Sissinghurst Castle Gardens in the UK.
Jessica A. Schuler is Program Coordinator for Natural Resources at Westchester County’s Lasdon Arboretum. Previously, she was director of the Thain Family Forest at The New York Botanical Garden, where she was responsible for the management and ecological restoration of the 50-acre old-growth forest as well as for the development of education and research programs. She teaches about urban forest restoration, invasive species, and native plants. An ISA-certified arborist with a BS in plant science from Cornell, she is a member of The Native Plant Center Steering Committee.
Carolyn Summers is co-founder of Go Native U and is co-author with Kate Brittenham of the newly revised Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East. Carolyn’s 300-acre Flying Trillium Gardens and Preserve in the Catskills is open to the public by appointment. She holds a BSLA from CCNY and has worked for the Trust for Public Land, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. She is a member of The Native Plant Center Steering Committee.
Lynn Trotta is a seasoned naturalist, outdoor educator, and eco-spirituality facilitator with more than 20 years in private practice. She guides individuals and groups of all ages to find grounded peace and healing through a rooted and sacred relationship with nature.
