Years:
unknown
Year Hutchinson Medal awarded:
2021
Leading American botanist whose long career with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) helped transform the nation’s approach to native plant materials, seed strategy, and interagency plant-conservation partnerships.
Peggy Olwell received her B.A. in botany from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her M.S. in biology from Southern Methodist University in 1980.
Career Highlights:
- Peggy Olwell worked for federal conservation agencies, including:
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- National Park Service
- Center for Plant Conservation
- Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
She worked as the manager of conservation programs at the Center for Plant Conservation from 1989 to 1994. Then she spent several years with the National Park Service as endangered species coordinator. Beginning in 1998, she was with the BLM as endangered species program manager. In 2005 she became the BLM’s program lead for plant conservation and restoration.
Peggy Olwell was instrumental in founding the Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA) in 1994. The PCA is now a partnership of 12 federal agencies and close to 400 organizations. She served as the PCA’s federal committee chair and helped align national priorities around native plant conservation. Among her major contributions to plant conservation, Peggy built the BLM’s nationally recognized Native Seed Program, enabling the use of native plants in habitat restoration across millions of acres of public lands. She also developed the landmark 2015 National Seed Strategy, a coordinated national plan to ensure genetically appropriate native plant materials for restoration, climate adaptation, and biodiversity conservation.
She delivered addresses on climate resilience and plant conservation, emphasizing the role of native plants in national strategies addressing climate change and biodiversity loss.
Publications:
Peggy Olwell contributed to influential conservation literature. She was co-editor of Restoring Diversity: Strategies for Reintroduction of Endangered Plants (Island Press). And co-author of Seeds of Restoration Success: Wild Lands and Plant Diversity in the U.S. (Springer).
She was recognized with the 2025 John C. Pritzlaff Conservation Award from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. The award honored her decades of national leadership in native plant conservation and restoration. She was the featured keynote speaker at numerous national conservation symposia and conferences. In 2025, she retired after 44 years of federal service.