Mike is a botanist / vegetation ecologist with over 30 years professional experience working throughout California. He is co-chair of the Rare Plant Committee of the San Francisco Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (http://cnps-yerbabuena.org/). Since 1994, he has written a regular feature for the chapter newsletter called “Focus on Rarities”. In 2014 Mike compiled a checklist of the plants found in the city’s natural areas; this was the first attempt at updating the flora of San Francisco since 1958. In June 2021 Mike released the 3rd edition of the Annotated Checklist of the Vascular Plants of San Francisco. He has also produced separate checklists for 67 of San Francisco’s natural and naturalized areas. These lists may be downloaded for free at: https://www.wood-biological.com/san-francisco-plant-checklist/

Mike retired in 2018 and has been traveling, exploring the botanical wonders of such places as the Dingle Peninsula of Ireland; the Dolomites of Italy; Germany’s Black Forest; the Alps of Switzerland, Austria and Germany; the Ardèche of Provence, France; the Sierra Nevada of Andalusia, Spain; the Canary Islands; the Cape Province of South Africa; the Okavango Delta of Botswana; Namibia; Honshu, Japan; the north and south islands of New Zealand.

Since the pandemic broke in February, 2020, he found himself “stuck” on the windward side of Oahu, Hawaii where he and his wife have decided to settle. It was here that he began a 2 year-long effort to update the SF checklist. The 3rd edition of his Annotated Checklist of the Vascular Plants of San Francisco is available for purchase here: https://store.cnps.org/collections/books/products/annotated-checklist-of-the-vascular-plants-of-san-francisco

In 2015 Mike produced a list of locally significant plant species for SF and is working on a revised list. It you’d like to help with this important update, please contact me.