When Mike moved to Ames in 1998, prairies were not his passion, in fact he didn’t know anything about prairies – even though he grew up for much of his childhood in the Loess Hills in Western Iowa. He studied many things at Iowa State University on his way to finding his passions; getting Bachelors degrees in Electrical Engineering and physics, and a Masters degree in Neuroscience. But none of these subjects became his ultimate passion – teaching.

Mike started teaching in 2005, and when he came to Ames High School in 2006, he noticed something amazing right behind the school building – the Ames High Prairie. Influences from educational pioneers like John Dewey, Mike Clough, Joann Olson, Charlie Drewes, and other educational mentors had impressed upon Mike the importance of real-world experiences and reflective discussion as key parts of learning. When he opened his back door for the first time and noticed the biological state preserve a few steps away, he knew he had to find out more.

Soon thereafter, Mike met with one of the prairie volunteers at Burgies in south Ames; his name was Erv Klaas. Erv, like many of the prairie experts Mike met over the years, taught him many things and widened his circle of prairie knowledgeable folks. Mike started engaging his biology and environmental science classes regularly in the management plan of the Ames High Prairie. These projects led to collaborations with many prairie experts. At the urging of collaborators, like Erv and Laura Norian, Mike attended the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar for the first time in 2009 and the North American Prairie Conference at UNI in 2011. During one Loess Hills Prairie Seminar, Mike met Dr. Douglas Tallamy, a national promoter of why native plants in our landscape are critical for our survival on this planet in the long run.

A collaboration in 2009 with Karen Viste-Sparkman, Wildlife Biologist at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, got Mike his first experience growing prairie plant plugs in the greenhouse. The collaboration continued for several years, culminating each year in a massive student field trip to Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge to install the plants we grew in front of the nature center there. Mike soon had written many grants to fund equipment for his students to start growing their own native plants for local projects in Ames.

Each year Mike would guide his students in learning about the biology of prairies including their plants and how to grow them. They were eventually growing 12,000 native plants each year and one year even worked with over 100 clients in the Ames area to design and plant pollinator gardens. Mike and his students at Ames High School continue to grow over 7,000 native plants each year and design and install native plant gardens on the school campus and beyond. Mike had connected three of his passions – teaching, community-based-learning, and getting native plants out into the landscape!

In 2017 in order to get youth engaged in even longer-term projects that could include multi-year management of native plant landscapes, Mike co-founded The Community Academy, an educational non-profit that connects kids with our community through long-term community projects in collaboration with their peers, mentors, and community leaders so that kids grow up happy and healthy because they become an integral part of our community. For several years, The Community Academy youth grew over 12,000 native plants throughout the school year to plant in the summer through a collaboration with The City of Ames. The summer native planting projects still continue, but now Native Impact grows and donates the plants to The Community Academy.

In order to get even more native plants out into the landscape, Mike founded Native Impact. We are excited to work with designers, landscapers, landscape architects, homeowners, and others who share the same goal of more native plants out into a landscape. One of the things slowing down efforts to get more native plants out into the landscape is native plant availability year-round. Another is the availability of a variety of sizes of plants – something to fit the budget and goals of anyone wanting to make a difference with native plants.

Native Impact would like to work with you to help you achieve your goals with native plants. Mike has over 15 years of experience growing over 100 different species of native plants. Over 15 years of experience designing (and redesigning) 100’s of spaces of all shapes, sizes, and conditions (soil moisture, sunlight, etc.). Mike has tried many different concepts, had time to watch them grow, learned what should be done to achieve certain goals, and what should never be planted if you have certain goals. Many designs over the years took a variety of prairie plants and planted them into urban environments – if you’re going for a certain look or trying to reduce your maintenance, then there are many plants Mike can steer you away from.