About Bluestem Hollow Nursery
Meet the Owner: Nate Weston, the owner, has nearly two decades of experience helping private landowners, municipalities, engineering companies, landscape architects, non-governmental organizations, and conservation agencies incorporate native plants into their projects, whether to enhance wildlife habitat, decrease management costs, or just to beautify their landscape. Nate is an Arkansas native, earned an A.S. degree from the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton in 2012, and a B.S. degree in Environmental Science from the University of Central Arkansas in 2016. Before and after graduating from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Nate worked as a Restoration Assistant for the Jewel Moore Nature Reserve and as an intern and Research Assistant at the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission as under Ecologist Theo Witsell.
During his time at the Jewel Moore Nature Reserve, Nate co-developed an ecological restoration proposal and assisted in several ecological restoration projects, including the management of invasive exotic plants, native-plant identification and seed collection, native-plant propagation, and environmental education of students, volunteers, and visitors.
While interning with the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Nate assisted with site visits to numerous sites of exceptional ecological value and assisted ANHC ecologists with locating rare plant species. Nate also digitized numerous plant records into the state herbarium's database.
From 2017 to 2023, Nate moved to Fayetteville and served with the Beaver Watershed Alliance as Program Coordinator and eventually as Geospatial Ecologist. During this time, Nate met hundreds of landowners in the Beaver Lake Watershed, conducting site visits to assist with erosion management, wildlife habitat establishment, consulting landowners on general ecological management, and developing datasets and maps for watershed-based applications and conservation planning. Nate also developed comprehensive ecological management plans for private and public landowners, including those for Fayetteville's Mount Sequoyah Woods and Goshen's Mill Branch Park.
During this time, he conducted site visits to landowners in the West Fork and Lakeside watersheds of Northwest Arkansas, assisted in the West Work - White River Initiative, managed the Alliance's Free Tree & Shrub program, and conducted outreach and education on topics related to watershed management. Nate also conducted floral surveys, habitat assessments, developed comprehensive conservation management plans for Fayetteville's Mt. Sequoyah Woods and for Goshen's Mill Branch Park. Nate also managed the Alliance's Free Trees and Shrubs and High Tunnels for Native Plants programs.
Nate is a strong advocate for ecology based watershed management, ecological restoration, native plants, conservation, and wildlife habitat. Nate regularly leads plant walks, is an active member of the Arkansas Native Plant Society, and lives with his husband, Patrick, in Lincoln, AR.