About

2022 NE-ISA Women's Tree Climbing Champion!

​

Stella values the role of people as a part of their local ecosystem, tending to their environment with an eye to the future and a respect for natural cycles of growth and decay. In practice, this includes transitioning to retaining organic matter on-site, using hand or electric tools and aspiring to fossil-fuel-free arboriculture, and cultivating a resilient and interdependent community of plants. She is committed to reciprocity with the natural world. 

 

Stella has over two decades of experience working with and studying plants. Most recently, this has been as a commercial climbing arborist for companies including Hartney Greymont/The Davey Tree Expert Company, J.M. King Landscaping & Arboriculture, and Woodsmith Forestry. Prior to that she obtained a Masters of Forestry at Michigan Technological University. As an undergrad at Duke University she was deeply involved in the world of community gardening, including founding the garden at Duke, working at the local community garden in Durham, NC and the community farm at the International Institute in her hometown of St. Louis, MO. As a major in archaeology with a focus on archaeobotany, she situates her work within a tremendously long history of human/plant interaction.

​

Stella is currently a PhD student of environmental conservation with a focus on arboriculture at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, working on a TreeFund grant exploring the physiological and mechanical effects of pruning residential and urban shade trees. She also helps with mapping the university arboretum for UMass facilities.

​

For larger projects, Stella is a proud collaborator of Gnarly Pippins.