Peter Brastow has 16 years of natural resources management, ecological restoration, and habitat gardening experience, starting at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in the Presidio, where he learned nearly the entire remaining flora of San Francisco. Peter has been on the board of the Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society since 1995. In 2005, he started Nature in the City in order to create an organization wholly dedicated to the conservation and restoration of the city’s native flora, fauna, habitats and natural areas. Nature in the City’s main goal of protecting, preserving, and restoring our local bioregion manifests in two basic forms, 1) conservation of the wildlands and natural areas themselves, and 2) restoration of biodiversity throughout the urban landscape. Peter went to graduate school in geography at UCLA which led him to the Presidio...

Marina Lazzara lives in San Francisco near the Oak Woodlands in Golden Gate Park. She attended New College of California, the Ohlone School of Herbal Medicine, and City College of San Francisco. She interned at the Herb Pharm in Williams, Oregon, Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park, and most recently, the Natural Areas Program in partnership with Nature In The City. She is a published poet and edits the eco-poetics journal, Plastic Ocean, a literary project honoring poetry, culture and the ocean. She plays guitar & sings with The Rabbles, is on the Board of Directors for Art Beat Foundation and a founding member of Habitat City, a gardeners' collective.

Andrew Martin has been a licensed landscape contractor in California since 2002, doing all aspects of landscaping including stonework, water features, lighting, irrigation, carpentry and garden design. His business has specialized in low maintenance, climate appropriate landscapes with an emphasis on California native plants. He also has several years of experience in the design and installation of Japanese gardens. Andrew is from Los Gatos, CA. He is a 1997 graduate of the University of Kansas with a B.S. in biology. It was there he began his life long interest in agriculture and horticulture. While in college, Andrew was employed by an organic farm and was instrumental in establishing and constructing a community garden. That garden is still in existence in Lawrence, Kansas, today. After college, Andrew began working in horticulture at several plant nurseries in the San Francisco south bay area. Eventually, he became a buyer and department head at the Summer Winds Nursery in San Jose. Andrew began a landscaping career through his nursery work and formed his own landscaping business in 2000.

Deidre Martin is the former stewardship & volunteer coordinator extraordinaire for Nature in the City. She continues to coordinate the Backyard Native Nursery Network, which is growing San Francisco coastal natives for Nature in the City's Green Hairstreak Butterfly Project. Deidre has nearly 2 decades of experience in estate gardening, urban agriculture and nursery work. She also has several years experience in cooperatives, including co-founder of the West Philadelphia Cooperative School in 2005. Deidre is active in San Francisco's green schoolyards, creating wildlife and edible gardens - for her kids' elementary, New Traditions, and for other City public schools including the irrigation work at Alvarado Elementary.