Elise Krohn
Elise Krohn
Co-Director,
Native Plants & Foods Institute
Elise Krohn M.Ed. is an educator, author, herbalist, native foods specialist, and mother. She is passionate about connecting people of all ages with plants, places, and cultural traditions. During her 24+ years of experience teaching in tribal communities, she has worked with elders and cultural specialists to create community gardens and food sovereignty resources as well as a program on healing addiction. Through leading teacher trainings and internship programs, Elise has multiplied the number of educators who are teaching about native foods and herbal medicines. She also has over 10 years of experience as a clinical herbalist, has authored four books and numerous articles, and led the development of educational resources including curricula on chronic disease prevention and improving mental health.
As a non-Native member of the Tahoma Peak team, Elise strives to understand the effects of colonialism, uphold tribal sovereignty, and elevate Native voices while also connecting with her own ancestry. She hopes that sharing her passion for plants and local ecosystems will encourage others to learn from and care for the land.
Elise@tahomapeak.com
Recent Works
Elise was the project director for the Tend, Gather and Grow Teaching Toolkit and the Plant Teachings for Growing Social-Emotional Skills Toolkit. She co-developed the Native Infusion: Rethink Your Drink Curriculum, the Cedar Box Teaching Toolkit, Feed 7 Generations: A Salish Cookbook, and the Live with the Seasons podcast with Valerie Segrest. She was also the project director for the interactive Cedar Box Experience website.
Elise has served as a principal investigator for projects under the National Science Foundation and USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. She worked with teams of people to develop place-based and culturally relevant educational resources including curricula, books, plant identification cards, videos, games, and posters. She also helped create an Indigenous evaluation framework and the Native Plants and Foods Curriculum Portal.
Teaching Experience
Elise has taught in diverse settings including K-12 schools, colleges, herbal schools, treatment centers, outdoor programs, culture camps, and conferences. Over the last 20 years, she has led hundreds of students through year-long herbal internships in her own Healing Roots program and at the Vital Ways School, GRuB’s Wild Foods and Medicines Program, and Northwest Indian College. She has led teacher trainings and apprenticeship programs and has also been a guest teacher at The Evergreen State College, Bastyr University, National University of Naturopathic Medicine, among others.
Education
Elise Krohn has pursued an interest in plants for over 30 years and hopes to honor her many teachers through her work. She was trained as a clinical herbalist at Southwest School of Botanical Medicine in 1995 and completed internship programs with Cascade Anderson Geller, Tieraona Low Dog, Adam Sellar, Subiyay Bruce Miller (Skokomish), Joyce Netishan, and Rudy Ryser (Oneida).
Educational degrees include a Master in Education from Lesley University, a Certificate in Ethnobotany and Ethnonutrition from the Center for World Indigenous Studies, a Bachelor in Science from The Evergreen State College, and an Associate of Arts from Clark College.
Elise is also trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and has extensive experience working in behavioral health settings.
Personal
Elise has found wonder and contentment in nature since an early age. She enjoys hiking and exploring from high mountain meadows to saltwater beaches. Traveling, dancing, foraging, and cooking with her family are also favorite pastimes.
