The achievements of botany enthusiast and volunteer Don Knoke are as varied and numerous as one of his plant-species lists. World War II pilot. Local farmer and historian. Fine photographer. Accomplished birder. Skilled marksman and hunter. Internet-savvy computer user. And at 88 years old, an unstoppable hiker.

Don is among Washington’s most respected experts on regional native plants. Even without an official botany degree, “Don is a peer and a colleague among professionals,” says University of Washington botanist David Giblin.

Volunteer Leadership at the Conservancy

Happily, Don also contributes his considerable knowledge and energy to The Nature Conservancy. “Don has been a leader among volunteers and a plant-identification resource person for other volunteers,” says Conservancy botanist Jim Evans.

Don volunteered his time to inventory plants at the Conservancy’s Ebey's Landing Preserve. He also identified plant species and planted trees at the Conservancy’s recently acquired Swauk Valley Ranch.

A Natural History

Don’s interest in plants began during childhood on the Kittitas Valley farm homesteaded by his great-grandfather. As a chemistry major at the University of Washington, Don couldn’t resist a botany field course taught by renowned professor C. Leo Hitchcock.

“Hitchcock was an enthusiastic bird hunter, and when he found out my father had a farm with pheasants on it, he promptly gained permission to hunt there,” Don explains. It was the start of a long relationship, and the root of Don’s deep scientific knowledge of native plants.

After college, Don took over the family farm, where he still lives. When he retired in 1994, he began a second, unpaid, career as a botanist. At the UW Herbarium, Don identifies plants, participates in collecting trips and contributes thousands of photos and descriptions. Don has also coordinated field trips for the Washington Native Plant Society and transferred scores of old plant lists to the society’s Web site.

A Typical Volunteer Day

Don says that a typical day hike with these organizations nets about 150 different species of plants. On each hike, he records species onto a digital voice recorder. Later, he enters the information into his database. “I have over 3600 species and over 600 plant lists on the database,” says Don.

Is he slowing down any? Those who know him say his hiking stamina remains as remarkable as his encyclopedic knowledge of plants. “Don is an outlier in terms of his physical and mental ability,” says UW’s Giblin.

Nature picture credits (left to right): Photo © Barbara French (Don Knoke); Photo © Don Knoke (Claytonia Lanceolata flower).