Instructors:  Ben Alexander co-founded Sound Native Plants in 1991, an Olympia-based native plant nursery and ecological restoration company. He has worked in ecological restoration for more than 30 years. Ben's experience includes creating and implementing plans for shoreline and slope stabilization using bioengineering methods including live crib walls, vegetated geogrids, willow fascines, geotextiles, and native plantings. He served for five years as the environmental planner for Thurston County Stormwater Program, where he helped develop the county’s first stormwater design manual and authored several comprehensive drainage basin plans. Ben spent four years managing roadside and wilderness ecological restoration programs in Olympic National Park and Yosemite National Park.

Wendy Gerstel, proprietor and principal of Qwg Applied Geology, is a licensed Engineering Geologist and Hydrogeologist in Washington State. She has over 30 years of experience working with Federal, State, and local jurisdictions, Tribes, non-profit groups, and private landowners throughout the U.S. and extensively in the Pacific Northwest.  Since 1992, Wendy has provided coastal geologic, geomorphic, and hydrogeologic input to a range of research, mapping, mitigation, and restoration projects around Puget Sound. She has extensive experience mapping Puget Sound glacial deposits and unstable slopes, and providing professional input to land-use planning decisions and restoration projects.