Wendy Baxter is a forest canopy ecologist, filmmaker, and Program Director of the Ancient Forest Society. She received a Masters of Science in Environmental Science from Wageningen University in the Netherlands in 2006. Following her studies, she spent more than a decade researching old-growth giant sequoia and coast redwood forests in California. She worked as a researcher at UC Berkeley in Professor Todd Dawson’s lab, where she collaborated with Dr. Anthony Ambrose and other scientists on a number of cross-disciplinary studies, several of which are focused on giant sequoias. These collaborative efforts culminated in a number of peer-reviewed papers that Wendy is a co-author of. 

Building on these years of research experience and passion for ancient forests, Wendy co-founded the Ancient Forest Society in 2020 with Anthony Ambrose and Steen Christensen. Ancient Forest Society is a non-profit dedicated to the conservation of ancient forests through research, outreach, and exploration.  She became Program Director in 2024, overseeing conservation initiatives, including a large-scale seed collection program. Outside of her ecological work, Wendy is also an independent filmmaker, producing short films that educate and inspire audiences about the beauty and importance of the natural world.