Chad Washburn is the Vice President of Science & Conservation at Naples Botanical Garden and leads the organization’s Center for Nature-Based Solutions. He is one of the Garden’s founding staff members, overseeing the extensive restoration and management of more than 90 acres of marsh, mangrove, pineland, and scrub habitats, before turning his attention to developing plant conservation strategies in the Garden and community.
Chad leads the Conservation and Natural Resources team, focusing on projects that ensure the long-term survival of the flora and ecosystems of South Florida and the Caribbean region. These efforts include natural resource management, seed banking, conservation plant collections development, threat assessments, restoration and resiliency projects, and capacity building in the region. Throughout his time at the Garden, he has led efforts to address the region’s most pressing challenges through nature-based solutions, including landscape-scale restoration of coastal beach dune plant communities, development of resilient urban forests, and stormwater management.
Chad acts as a convener for regional and international plant conservation efforts. Each month, he brings together a community of scientists and practitioners from across Southwest Florida for monthly informal conversations to encourage collaborative problem solving and resource sharing. He also leads a community of more than 250 botanical gardens from the Caribbean and Central America working to achieve global plant conservation strategy goals. Chad is a Chanticleer Scholar through Pennsylvania’s renowned Chanticleer Garden, a courtesy faculty member at Florida Gulf Coast University, a graduate of Leadership Collier (2018), and recipient of the American Public Gardens Association’s Professional Citation, honoring significant achievements in public horticulture.
