Veva Stansell

 Long-time plant en-thusiast Veva Stansell knows there is much work to be done when it comes to cataloguing plants in Oregon, but the 73-year-old south-western Oregon resident welcomes the challenge. “There are times I wish I lived closer to a univer-sity, but on the other hand there are advantages to living far away,” said Veva, the Coos and Curry County Regional Coordinator for the Oregon Plant Atlas Project. “One of the things that sparks the imagination is that this corner of Oregon has a lot of botanical secrets yet to be discovered,” said Veva, who lives near Gold Beach, at Pistol River. “It hasn’t been studied all that much. Who knows what will be found?”

Veva was born on July 20, 1929 in Gold Beach, to Otto and Elma Ismert. In 1936, her family moved to a farm near Pistol River where they raised cows and other livestock. She graduated from Gold Beach High School in 1947 in a class of 16 students. In 1948, she married Bob Stansell. They raised their three sons in Gold Beach, and in 1970 the couple moved back to Pistol River. Bob Stansell lost a brave fight with lung cancer in 1996.

Veva’s interest in botany first stirred while she was trail-riding in Curry County’s back country. Like many botany enthusiasts, she began to notice the differences between coastal and moun-tain plants.

“Wildflower books with pictures helped a little, but I had more questions than answers,” she explained. “Time marched on, and when our boys were high school students, a young man named Fred Bowen joined the Gold Beach High School staff as a biology teacher. “Fred gave some evening classes in plant identi-fication, and lo and behold, that little light bulb above my head began to flash. I discovered floras by Peck and Jepson, and Randall’s Manual of Oregon Trees and Shrubs. A brand new world!”

Veva has been a member of the Native Plant Society of Oregon since the early 1970s and at one time in those early years was the only member who lived outside the Portland area. She has served many terms on the Board of Directors and has been Vice President, and Secretary at various times in the past. At present, she is chair of the Fellows Committee.

Veva loves botanizing in her corner of the state. Without a doubt, she says, her favorite habitats are found on serpentine and peridotite soils where many species of broadleaf shrubs and the early spring blooms of Erythronium and Trillium can be found. “I also love the high Siskiyous and other Klamath Ranges, the moun-tain lakes and ponds with unknown monocots, Lewisia adorning knife-edge ridges, niches in the rocks where odd ferns cling,” she said. “In winter, or when it’s been too long between outings, day-dreams of these places sneak in behind my eyelids and soothe me.”

Although Veva is currently retired, she has held an assort-ment of jobs including waitress, janitor, laborer in plywood and stud mills, florist, nursery worker, botany technician for the Bu-reau of Land Management and US Forest Service (USFS) Gold Beach Ranger District, and finally District Botanist at Gold Beach. Before her employment with the USFS, Veva became intensely interested in public land use and sensitive plants. These interests led to volunteer work with the USFS, The Nature Conservancy, Kalmiopsis Audubon Society, Malheur Field Station, Jepson Herbarium, and various other agencies and conservation groups.

She received the Conservation Award from the Daughters of the American Republic, the USFS Regional Threatened, Endan-gered and Sensitive Species Habitat Management Award, and a USFS National Award for Individual Volunteer Service that in-cluded a trip to Washington, DC.

Since retiring, Veva has had more time to spend with her family, attend sports and other functions in which her grandchil-dren are involved, and read more books. “But most important is to continue to get out in the hills to explore new places and re-turn to old favorites.”

– Rhoda Love, Emerald Chapter