PPRV Team
Pollinator Project Rogue Valley is directed by an all-volunteer board.
We joined together to promote the health of pollinators and people
- for our food systems and ecosystems - in our communities and beyond.
Working together, we can save our pollinators.
Arti Kirch - Vice President
Arti has been following a passion for the natural world her entire life, beginning with a childhood spent in the glorious Upper Peninsula of Michigan. As an adult, she lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 40 years. There, in addition to creating several residential and public dry-land gardens, she also operated a nonprofit nursery specializing in native and Mediterranean-climate plants, co-founded a business growing and selling edible plants for summer gardens, was a docent at state and regional parks, and studied horticulture at several local colleges. Arti is a steadfast member of the Native Plant Society of Oregon and the California Native Plant Society. Arti is thrilled with the opportunity to share her knowledge and passion for the magic of seeds with the Pollinator Project Rogue Valley community.
Erin Keller
Erin grew up immersed in the natural world. The long days playing in the open fields around Klamath Falls, walking her family’s timber property near Sweet Home, or helping her grandmother in the flower garden formed the container of her childhood. As an adult, and clinical social worker, she is very aware of the important intersection of nature and mental health.
​
Over the past few years, Erin and her husband have completed the Land Steward program and the Master Naturalist class, both through OSU Extension Service. They are now working to rewild their small property near Ashland, including native pollinator plantings and encouraging additional wildlife. These activities lead her to volunteer for Pollinator Project Rogue Valley. Erin is interested in helping PPRV get the word out about what we can all do to support our natural environments, and help ourselves in the process.
Kristina Lefever - President / Secretary
Kristina moved to the Rogue Valley in 2012 and immediately became enamored with the region's flora and fauna, especially our pollinators. At the same time, she began learning about the unprecedented decline of all pollinators and the associated implications for our food system and eco system.
​
Kristina loves talking about our native bees, butterflies, flies, wasps, beetles, and hummingbirds, and the plants and habitats that best support them. She also loves connecting with people who share the dream that everyone's yard or landscape will include a little or a lot of pollinator habitat, even if it's just a corner filled with California poppies. As her knowledge of native plants continues to grow, she is even more passionate about growing, sharing, and planting the native annuals, perennials, shrubs, and trees that create the habitats that best support our region's native pollinators, and thus, all the creatures that depend upon them. Kristina is available to make presentations on the subjects of pollinators, pollinator gardens, and beneficial insects in the garden.
​
Kristina led the effort for Ashland to become the fifth Bee City USA in 2015, and continues to serve on the subcommittee. She also serves on the board of Beyond Toxics, and is a member of the Native Plant Society of Oregon, Siskiyou Chapter. Kristina is honored to serve as president and Volunteer Director of Pollinator Project Rogue Valley.
Patricia Burnham - Treasurer
Pat moved to Southern Oregon in 2018, very happy to come to this slower-paced, smaller, and greener locale after living in Los Angeles. Before retiring, Pat spent many years working in corporate accounting and financial reporting. Upon moving to Oregon, she discovered her interest in native plants and pollinators, which led her to Pollinator Project Rogue Valley, where she realized her work experience would be useful and she could continue learning about the critical role pollinators play in our ecosystems. Pat is delighted to serve as Treasurer for Pollinator Project Rogue Valley.
Sally Jeppson
Sally grew up in Carmel, California, but moved to the North Dakota prairies for 32 years, only to circle back to live today in the mountains above Ashland. Sally’s life work has been with non-profit museums and galleries. Exhibitions are her passion, as she recognizes how interpretation, artwork/ artifact/ specimen selection, installation and exhibition design can showcase artists’ work, sell a product, educate, tell a story, generate dialog and delight audiences.
Sally and her husband operated an exhibition design and arts consulting business, Starview Enterprises, Inc. for 18 years, working with museums, galleries and organizations and their interpretive materials and interactive displays. Sally has organized and installed hundreds of exhibitions, and served on numerous grant panels and juried student, community and academic exhibitions.
​
​Southern Oregon’s rich environmental diversity has only fueled Sally’s passions; gardening, hiking, forging, and learning all she can about the environment of her new home. These interests had her seeking knowledge about the extraordinary number of pollinators she was seeing and she found PPRV. Sally wholeheartedly supports PPRV’s mission and she is looking forward to working on the organization’s exciting future development.
Pollinator Project Rogue Valley does not discriminate or tolerate harassment on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, national origin or any other status or basis prohibited by state or federal law.