Tasya Herskovits

I think I was born a Desert Rat. Though I grew up in NYC and NJ, as soon as I turned 18 I scurried out West as fast as my little rat legs could carry me. I lived in northern New Mexico for about 6 years, and I thought that was the desert. Then I discovered the Sonoran and realized what a real desert is. Apparently, the Sonoran wasn’t dry enough for me, and after a brief hiatus in Oregon and central America, I gravitated towards the Mojave desert of southern California. If this pattern of graduating to harsher and harsher deserts continues, I will probably end up in Death Valley and then . . . Sahara, Serengeti . . . ?

I got hooked on botany while studying plant medicine with Michael Moore in Bisbee, AZ, suddenly realizing that observing each plant in detail, down to the hairs, was strangely captivating. For me botany is a way to get very, very up close and personal with the plants that inspire me with their wide range ingenious ways of surviving in the harshest of climates.

I also enjoy native plant landscaping and educating people about the flora in their backyard, encouraging people to keep their natives instead of scraping them away. I love watching people’s jaws drop when they learn that their pokey Yucca that’s in the way of the patio they want to build may actually be over 800 years old.

This past year I interned on the Veg Crew at Joshua Tree National Park, and we got to work on all kinds of interesting projects, my favorite of which is the Flora Project, the first detailed mapping and cataloguing of all found species in JTNP.

My main other passion is dancing, any kind of dancing, anytime, anywhere, and to almost any kind of music, though I especially love middle-eastern, Indian, hip-hop, funk, and gypsy (music that combines two or more of these gets extra points).

Little known fact: I like the Sonoran better than the Mojave, but don’t tell my friends at JTNP.

I am really looking forward to converging with all of you fabulous people in the desert to listen and learn what nature has to tell us. I LOVE meeting botanists and plant people as I sometimes feel we are few and far between . . .and I can’t wait to learn and share more!

See ya amongst the Saguaros . . . .