Luke and Suzie in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, at the top of the Stuart Fork of the Trinity River.
Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds provides the general public, nurseries, habitat restoration practitioners and botanists with wildcrafted seeds from the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains of northern California and southern Oregon.
Co-founded in 2014 by partners Suzie Savoie and Luke Ruediger, as part of Siskiyou Ecological Services LLC, Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds encourages the use of bioregional, localized genetic seed stock for native plantings and habitat restoration.
Suzie with western thistle (Cirsium occidentale) in the Applegate Foothills
Luke on the Boundary Trail in the Kangaroo Roadless Area, on the edge of the Red Buttes Wilderness. This wonderful profusion of wildflowers followed the Fort Goff Complex fire of 2012.
After working in the horticultural nursery industry for six years with both native and ornamental plants from around the world, Suzie has returned to her roots with what originally inspired her love of botany: the flora of the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion. Suzie has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing, leading to her passion for nature writing and environmental journalism. Suzie was an editor of The Siskiyou Crest: Hikes, History & Ecology, a book devoted to the unique ecology of the Siskiyou Mountains. Suzie is an avid hiker, backpacker, gardener, plant propagator and off-grid homesteader.
This circular area was where a pile of debris from forest health thinning work was burned and later seeded with native wildflowers, including Hound’s tongue.
Luke Ruediger grew up in southwest Oregon and began exploring the region’s unique habitat and terrain at an early age. He has done ecologically based forest restoration and land stewardship work for 18 years and has incorporated native seed sowing into his practice. Living with Suzie in a remote, off-grid homestead at the foot of the Siskiyou Crest, Luke enjoys long, rugged bushwhacks and backpacks, endemic wildflowers, and big tree hunting. Fascinated by the region’s beauty and diversity, Luke has long worked to preserve, restore, and protect the ecological integrity of the Siskiyou Mountains, through both environmental activism and land stewardship. Luke is the author of The Siskiyou Crest: Hikes, History & Ecology, a hiking and natural history guide to the Siskiyou Mountains of southwest Oregon and northern California. He also writes a blog about the Siskiyou Mountains and other regional land-based topics titled, Siskiyou Crest: Observations, Comments & Perspectives. View this blog at www.thesiskiyoucrest.blogspot.com
Hiking on the PCT in the Eddy Range with Mt. Shasta in the background.
