Judy Hall Jacobson began to study botany while a student at Cornell University where in 1975 she received a degree in Environmental Conservation. Currently she is a naturalist with Alaska Nature Tours in Haines, Alaska. She is author of "Native Plants of Southeast Alaska." She and her husband spend their winters on the Big Island of Hawai’i not far from the Manuka Forest Reserve. They enjoy exploring Alaska and Hawai’i on land and also on sea aboard the M/V Arcturus and the S/V A’u.