Women’s History Month | Amanda Hendrix, Forest Botanist

 Amanda Hendrix knows the best view can sometimes only be appreciated while on hands and knees. She has long been taken by the intricate beauty of flowers, heralding summer days in the garden with her grandmother. This practice serves her well as the Forest Botanist on the Colville National Forest.

While Hendrix has worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Forest Service for 9 years, she’s relatively new to the Colville, having spent the past year and a half leading efforts to study plant species on the 1.1 million acres.

“I grew up playing and working outdoors, developing a fondness for nature and the associated ecological processes,” Hendrix said. “Following graduation from college, I surveyed for rare plant species, monitored eagle nests, performed live surgery on fish, analyzed artifacts, monitored old refinery plumes, and delineated wetland – a myriad of experiences. I was then fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, becoming a Forest Service employee.”

When considering a start with the Forest Service, Hendrix believes flexibility is key: “Be willing to relocate, expand your skill sets, and develop relationships,” she said. “Volunteering is also an excellent venue to become familiar with the agency and get a taste of the kind of work you might enjoy.”

One of Hendrix’s duties is to source native and locally adapted plants to help manage forest restoration work. Using plants that are not native or adapted to the local conditions could cause problems, such as failing entirely, hurting the food web, or even becoming invasive. She and her staff collect seed, take cuttings, and have plants grown out in a nursery to ensure those varieties of plants are used when and where they’re needed on the forest.

As the Forest Botanist, she also reviews planned projects to determine how the proposed work may impact rare plant species. That might mean conducting surveys or hiking the areas of the forest that may provide habitat for rare plants. If any are located, measures are identified that will maintain these plants and their habitat for the future. Hendrix and her staff also monitor plant populations to better understand the species and how environmental changes may affect certain plants. 

“My hope is that the members of the public would recognize the value that the Forest Service brings to local communities – meaningful management of public resources, economic benefits, and diversity,” she said.

Hendrix enjoys a challenge. One of her favorite things about her job is identifying a species that she isn’t familiar with. Challenges can translate to success stories for biologists and botanists. One of her proudest professional achievements is writing the document starting the process of removing a plant from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants, known as “delisting”. 

Water howellia (Howellia aquatilis), while not known on the Colville National Forest, is documented in the state of Washington. This plant lives in vernal ponds that experience an annual cycle of filling up with water in the spring and drying up in summer or fall. It forms tangled mats in shallow water and blooms in the summer. The seeds do not germinate unless exposed to oxygen during the autumn drying cycle. Listed as threatened in 1994, habitat loss, invasive plants, urban development, and climate change have contributed to the Pacific Northwest native’s decline.

The tenacity of these tiny plants to persist despite challenges resonates with Hendrix.