About me
Ryan Drake is the McCausland Natural Areas Manager at the Morris Arboretum and Gardens of the University of Pennsylvania. There he manages 110 acres of the arboretum property from constructed wetlands, streams, forests, meadows, as well as, the Bloomfield farm property including community gardens, historic orchard, woody plant research collections, green roofs, and more. He also researches pollination ecology and wild bee populations and abundances across Pennsylvania in collaboration with Penn State Department of Entomology. Previously he was the Ecological Horticulturist at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Gardens where he led the design and construction of expanded gardens focused on Iowa's ecologies. He is originally from Wisconsin and did his undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin - Madison in Community and Environmental Sociology and Conservation Biology. He is also currently a master's candidate at the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania where he studies City and Regional Planning: Land Use and Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation focusing on open space and agricultural preservation, habitat conservation planning, stormwater and green infrastructure, and climate change planning.
