The Julian Steyermark Award, given to an individual/s who has/have made outstanding contributions to any and all aspects of Missouri botany, was awarded to Dana and Justin Thomas. Dana and Justin Thomas have been tireless leaders in numerous aspects of the state’s flora, especially teaching plant identification, ecology, and conservation for 20 years.

Dana is President and Co-founder of NatureCITE (Center for Integrated Taxonomy and Ecology). She has over twenty years of botanical and ecological field, lab, teaching, and administrative experience. She has conducted botanical and ecological field work for The Nature Conservancy, National Park Service, Missouri Department of Conservation and University of Missouri. Dana served as Vice President of MONPS for four years and as President for two years.

Justin is Science Director and Co-Founder of NatureCITE  and conducts taxonomic and ecological research. Along with Dana, he has taught plant identification workshops for over twenty years. He also has over twenty years of professional field experience and is recognized as one of the top ecologists in the state. Justin is perhaps the top field botanist in Missouri and has published numerous manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. He is a co-author with Doug Ladd (2015) on the Ecological Checklist of the Missouri Flora for Floristic Quality Assessment. He holds a research associateship at Missouri Botanical Garden and serves as a scientific advisor to several conservation groups.

Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an individual’s innumerable contributions to our knowledge of the flora of Missouri, years of dedicated service, commitment, and interest in the preservation and conservation of our state’s rich botanical heritage. The recipient is Doug Ladd.
Doug’s contributions to our knowledge of Missouri’s flora is immense. He is the former Director of Science for the Nature Conservancy where he worked for 38 years. He is perhaps the top field botanist in the state; the author of numerous scientific articles; author of North Woods Wildflowers and Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers, and coauthor of Discover Natural Missouri and Distribution of Illinois Vascular Plants. He is a co-author with Justin Thomas (2015) on the Ecological Checklist of the Missouri Flora for Floristic Quality Assessment.

He is the leading authority on Missouri’s lichens and has described species and genera new to science. For over forty years he has been involved in prairie, woodland, and glade ecology, management, and restoration. He is a leader in understanding the ecological benefits of sound fire ecology and management. He has developed assessment and ecological monitoring protocols for terrestrial vegetation; has been a leader in conservation and ecoregional conservation planning, and is an expert on the history of Missouri’s natural communities.

Doug serves on the board of the Conservation Research Institute in Chicago, as well as the advisory boards of the Harris World Ecology Center and Shaw Nature Reserve, is an adjunct faculty member at Washington University, and is a research associate at the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Morton Arboretum in Chicago, Illinois.

For over thirty years, he has worked tirelessly as editor of Missouriensis, the Society’s peer-reviewed scientific journal. He is a teacher at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, within the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts. He is a renowned speaker and lecturer. 

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