Meet Ariel Nelson

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ariel Nelson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ariel, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I found conservation and habitat restoration accidentally through a community college general education course that I was told had the most field trips. From there, I fell in love with ecology and saw the deep need for restoration across the planet.

I have decided to commit myself to the mission of ecological restoration everywhere in big and small ways. However, when I graduated undergrad and started working with non-profits and environmental consulting companies, what I found was a far cry from anything I had envisioned. I would get in trouble for cleaning up trash or picking weeds when it was “outside of the scope of work”. I found myself too passionate for the industry of habitat restoration and missing the public facing aspects of my work at coffee shops and LUSH Cosmetics. I didn’t just want to restore habitat, I wanted to show people why that mattered.

I started Restore the Earth Network because I saw a deep need in San Diego for restoration in residential areas, where all of the habitat has been turned into either a house or an ornamental yard. This wreaks havoc on the local ecosystem from the ground up and often requires a lot of upkeep. People can have beautiful yards that work with nature and not against it.

Native landscaping is affordable, drought-tolerant, and attracts a diverse array of pollinators that can bolster the health of urban gardens while supporting the local ecosystem. These landscapes are self-sufficient after 5 years and require little to no maintenance after that point.

My goal is to restore as much habitat as possible. Restore the Earth Network has been the best way to make that happen right now.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am a habitat restoration ecologist with a passion for creating ecologically thriving gardens for homeowners. San Diego is the most biodiverse county in the contiguous United States and I love to showcase that with locally native plants that attract a diverse array of pollinators. Together, we can restore the earth. We all have the power to change the world around us and the earth has an incredible capacity to heal when we set up the right conditions.

I think the biggest challenge has been learning to wear all of the hats of an organization to help it run. It has often felt like trying to learn how to swim through Jell-O without an instruction manual. I have learned so much through this process and I am so grateful for the opportunities that continue to unfold. Chase your dreams and don’t sell your soul for the sake of comfort.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
– La Jolla Shores & Cove (beach day with sea lions and tide pools)
– Windansea beach day
– Yakyudori Ramen & Yakitori on Convoy
– Anza Borrego Desert State Park
– Julian, CA (hikes and exploring)
– Cleveland National Forest
– Peñasquitos Canyon
– Black Cat Bar off University

Instagram: restoretheearth.network

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariel-nelson-conservation-gis-analyst