Who We Are
Sound Native Plants offers unparalleled practical experience in ecosystem restoration and green stormwater infrastructure.
Sound Native Plants’ primary goal is to implement environmental restoration using a comprehensive approach to ensure project success. To advance our goal SNP provides consulting, installation, and maintenance services. SNP endeavors to share our experience with customers and other professionals by offering public workshops, professional continuing education, publications, and training on environmental restoration and mitigation. Nobody else can match the breadth and depth of our experience. We have been growing, installing, and maintaining native plants for over 30 years.
Meet Our Leadership Team
Sound Native Plants is a locally owned and operated business with outfits in the Portland (PDX)-Vancouver and Olympia (southern Salish) areas. The people represented on this page are our leadership team, but we are so much more! Each member of our crew is passionate about supporting healthy ecosystems. With every plant touched, we work together to heal our shared planet.
Chad Stemm
President & Senior Ecologist
Chad joined Sound Native Plants in 2002. He managed SNP South in the Portland/Vancouver region for 20 years, and assumed ownership in 2024. In addition running the company, Chad serves as the SNP weed control specialist. Chad is a licensed Commercial Pesticide Applicator in Oregon and Washington.
Chad‘s experience includes:
- Developing invasive plant management and native habitat restoration programs for an organic farm and wildlife refuge on Snoqualmie River,
- Creating and maintaining a native plant nursery to supply restoration projects,
- Owning and managing a gardening and landscaping business in Seattle,
- Installing and maintaining a wide variety of restoration plantings, and
- Growing and selling retail plants in Seattle.
Chad has completed science and music coursework through Pacific Lutheran University. He manages the installation and maintenance of restoration and mitigation projects in the greater Portland/Vancouver region for Sound Native Plants. Chad also ran his own organic Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm in Vancouver for more than a decade.
Apollo Stone
Southern Salish Regional Manager & Senior Ecologist
Apollo joined Sound Native Plants in January 2021, bringing over a decade of diverse field experience in ecological restoration, native plant care, and sustainable land management. As the Olympia-based Regional Manager, Apollo plays a key role in coordinating field operations, mentoring team members, and ensuring high-quality implementation of restoration projects across a range of Pacific Northwest ecosystems.
Apollo's fieldwork spans a wide variety of environments, including wetland and riparian zones, evergreen forests, steep slopes, marine bluffs, and upper-elevation meadows. His technical skills include the installation of bioengineering materials for erosion control, mechanical and chemical invasive species management, and irrigation system troubleshooting and maintenance. He is also a trained sawyer, well-versed in chainsaw use for habitat restoration and forestry work.
In addition to his field leadership, Apollo brings a strong background in native plant propagation and nursery care, developed through his time at Desert Survivors Native Plant Nursery in Arizona. He has also contributed to large-scale restoration projects through previous positions with Restoration Logistics LLC (Seattle), the Thurston Conservation District, and the Washington Conservation Corps.
Apollo holds a Washington State Commercial Pesticide Operator license and maintains a deep commitment to ecological integrity and stewardship. His work is guided by a strong ethic of restoration, attention to site-specific conditions, and a belief in the long-term value of resilient native landscapes.
When he's not in the field, Apollo enjoys expanding his knowledge of native plant communities and developing new techniques to support the success of restoration projects.
Sean Johnson
Southern Salish Project Manager
Sean joined the Sound Native Plants team in 2021. After a ten-year career as a chef in Portland, Oregon, he returned to school to pursue a Bachelor’s degree with a focus on riparian and forest ecology at The Evergreen State College. During his senior year, Sean was offered an internship as a propagation technician with the native plant nursery at Sound Native Plants. This opportunity served as a springboard into the restoration field, and he quickly transitioned to the installation and restoration crew. He steadily advanced to a lead position and, in 2022, became the Administrative Manager for the Northern region of the company.
Sean’s specialties within Sound Native Plants include:
- Data entry, metrics tracking, and work scheduling for the Northern region,
- Creating information packets to guide crews on complex projects,
- Installing native plant materials across diverse ecosystems,
- Applying a wide range of ecological restoration techniques, and
- WSDA licensed herbicide application in agriculture, aquatic, and ornamental categories.
In his free time, Sean enjoys traveling with his family, trying to keep up with his energetic Red Heeler, listening to an eclectic mix of music, playing disc golf, and exploring the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest.
Samantha Elie
Ecological Consultant & Communications Manager
Samantha joined the Sound Native Plants team in 2020 as the Nursery, Sales, and Communications Manager. They came to SNP from our good friends at the Native Plant Salvage Project.
Samantha's experiences include:
- Consulting to restore ecosystem health and promote services
- Assessing, designing, installing, and maintaining restoration and green stormwater infrastructure projects
- Educating on ecosystems for professional and public audiences
- Administrating SNP’s online presence and creating digital content
- Writing for technical and public audiences
- Cultivating and selling Pacific Northwest native plants for wholesale restoration and retail landscaping projects
- Managing projects, leading teams, and collaborating with diverse stakeholders
Samantha earned dual Bachelor's degrees in Montane Ecology and Economic Botany at the Evergreen State College.
Samantha is passionate about publicly-accessible plant-based science, writing to inspire community action. They are working on their first book, Plant Wisdom of the Antarctic. Keep up with their projects at www.SamanthaElie.com.
Amy Balint
PDX-Vancouver Project Manager
Amy joined the Sound Native Plants team in 2014 as an Ecological Restoration and Green Stormwater Infrastructure Technician. She has been a Project Manager for SNP since 2021 and previously led field crews from 2017-2021.
She developed her passion for ecological restoration through her volunteer work in the San Francisco Bay Area and first experienced the natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest on a backpacking trip to Olympic National Park in 2007. She moved to her current home in Portland in 2011.
She studied Environmental Science and GIS at Portland Community College and Portland State University and participated in a Harvard Forest undergraduate research program investigating the effects of eastern hemlock forest decline on small mammal communities.
Amy's experience includes:
- Native plant installation and site maintenance for a diverse array of ecosystem restoration projects
- Native plant seed harvesting and processing
- Invasive plant surveys
- Noxious weed control using manual, mechanical, and chemical techniques
- Licensed Commercial Pesticide Applicator in Oregon and Washington
- Green stormwater infrastructure maintenance
- New crew lead training
Her current role at SNP includes project coordination, scheduling and communications, plant procurement, work progress tracking, data quality monitoring, developing training materials, and administrative support.
James Nault
PDX-Vancouver Project Manager
James has worked for Sound Native Plants since 2019.
He moved to Oregon from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 2006. James comes from a family with strong ties to the natural world and a long and dedicated history of environmental stewardship, helping to preserve and protect the environment and native wildlife of the Upper Peninsula through their work running and Delta County Wildlife Unlimited and supporting other local conservation and stewardship programs.
James attended Portland State University's Environmental Studies program and has worked and volunteered locally in the environmental field in Oregon and Washington since 2017.
He is an avid outdoorsman in all seasons. When he's not hanging out indoors with his wife and two cats he enjoys gardening, fishing, foraging, and backpacking in his free time.
Jackie Manson
PDX-Vancouver Project Manager
Jackie joined Sound Native Plants in 2022 as an Ecological Restoration & Green Stormwater Field Technician.
After graduating Lewis & Clark College with a double B.A. in Art History and German Studies, Jackie spent the next 5 years specializing in plant care and educating about natural sciences products in customer service settings. Pursuing a lifelong interest in ecological processes, she put her interest to work at SNP and quickly worked her way up to Senior Crew Lead.
Jackie’s focus at SNP is native plant installation in and maintenance of restoration and mitigation sites, targeted chemical and manual control of EDRR species, and collaborating with clients on native seed conservation.
She is a licensed Commercial Pesticide Applicator in Oregon and Washington.
In her free time Jackie can be found foraging for wild foods and crafting materials. She enjoys participating in volunteer pika surveys and wildlife salvage operations.
Interested in Joining our Team?
If you are passionate about ecosystem restoration or green stormwater infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest consider a career with SNP! We post open positions on our social media and Indeed.com. Follow us and stay up to date as we grow our Olympia and Portland/Vancouver teams.