CNPS East Bay Chapter Elections 2022
Chapter Officer Candidates

My involvement with CNPS began when I volunteered for Charli Danielsen’s grasslands project in Mitchell Canyon in the early 1990s. I went on to various environmental activities—everything from habitat restoration to politics—with the Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation and Friends of the Creeks in Walnut Creek where I live. In 2005 I began volunteering at Native Here Nursery to learn more about the plants I wanted to restore.

Here’s a summary of my CNPS experience:

• Joined the East Bay Chapter board of directors in 2010, representing Native Here Nursery
• Attended statewide CNPS Chapter Council meetings (2009-14), serving as East Bay Chapter delegate in 2014
• Served as East Bay Chapter President (2013-14)
• Created the East Bay chapter’s Outreach Committee and continue to serve as its chair (2013-present)
• Became the founding chair of the Native Here Nursery Committee (2017-present)
• Represent the CNPS East Bay Chapter on the Public Advisory Committee of the East Contra Costa Habitat Conservancy (2015-present)
• Sit on the Let Antioch Decide committee, which promotes sensible growth (2016-present)

I have been involved with a number of conservation efforts in Contra Costa County, mainly in the form of fighting inappropriate development and lobbying for various restoration plans. I helped lead a successful land acquisition campaign for Acalanes Ridge using political skills, coalition building, and fundraising. I served two terms as a planning commissioner for the City of Walnut Creek, thereby gaining a perspective that is unique on the current CNPS East Bay Chapter board.

I have also led restoration projects over the last 25 years, and I am never happier than when I’m planting natives on Tuesday mornings.

David Margolies was born in Washington, DC, and moved to California in 1970 to attend graduate school at UC Berkeley, where he was awarded a PhD in Mathematics in 1977. After working at a government lab for some years, in 1985 he joined Franz Inc., a local software company, where he has worked ever since. He became interested in plants as an adult and learned about them from Glenn Keator, taking courses at the California Academy of Sciences. He is an active volunteer at the University and Jepson Herbaria and regularly takes Jepson courses. He joined CNPS in the 1990s and soon started leading field trips for the chapter. He was Assistant Editor of the Bay Leaf newsletter for some years and has been chapter Treasurer since 2010. He lives in Oakland.

Robin Mitchell grew up in New Mexico, where she developed a love for the outdoors and native plants. Moving to California for college (earning a BA in Environmental Studies and a masters in Architecture), she quickly became interested in California ecosystems. She pursued this interest by taking classes at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, reading, and experimenting in her own garden. She believes in “plant it and they will come”: if you provide habitat by planting native species, insects, birds, and other critters find it and thrive. She works at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the Building Technology and Urban Systems Division in the Energy Technology Area, developing software for architects and engineers to determine the energy consumption of buildings. She is a member of the El Cerrito Urban Forest Committee, the El Cerrito Community Garden Network, and the El Cerrito Garden Club (where she is newsletter editor), and she promotes the use of California native plants in all those venues. She looks forward to continuing to support the East Bay Chapter as Recording Secretary, helping to preserve native plant species in our local open spaces as well as encouraging cities and home gardeners to include natives in their landscaping.