Jesse Parker is a Research Specialist with the UT Tree Improvement Program. Jesse is primarily responsible for locating and documenting naturally occurring trees of various species to assist in the establishment and expansion of seed orchards in Tennessee. He assists with all aspects of the annual grafting effort, ranging from collection of scions from selected trees to grafting and post-grafting care.

Jesse earned a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA in 2015. Following graduation he spent a year living in the Nitrian Desert in Egypt before returning to his home state of Kansas for a time. He eventually landed in Tennessee after several itinerant years that included a stint working as a caretaker for a camp in the Washington cascades, wading in streams in the Rockies as a hydrologic technician for the Bureau of Land Management, and studying plant-insect interactions with the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station in Montana. Jesse first came to East Tennessee in 2019 to work as a forestry technician at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park working on forest pests, invasive plants, and native plant restoration. He began working with the UT Tree Improvement Program in 2021.