Michiel Pillet

I joined TCSS when I moved to Tucson in 2016, but first started growing cacti when I was a teenager in the mid-2000s. Everything I do involves conservation. I am the Program Officer for the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Cactus and Succulent Plants Specialist Group hosted by the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at The University of Arizona, a member of the IUCN SSC Succulent Plant Illegal Trade Task Force and IUCN Climate Crisis Commission, and a member of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America Conservation Committee. I also own a conservation-focused nursery here in Tucson. My involvement in the community is centered around building bridges: from the local to national to international community and between stakeholders from various sectors of society. This opens up new ways to enjoy our prickly friends and is the best approach to protecting them. Please feel free to reach out.