Jill Wagner has been a forester in Hawaii for 30 years. She started at the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden as a horticulturalist for the garden, where she grew native Hawaiian species. She received a Bachelors Degree from the University of Hawaii in Ethnobotany. She has been conducting forest restoration projects for the State of Hawaii, Department of Hawaiian Homelands, The Nature Conservancy, The National Park Service, Kamehameha Schools and other private land owners. She has trained people in ecosystems restoration and nursery management for decades.

She started the Hawaii Island Seed Bank in 2008, which banks seeds for large landowners on Hawaii Island. It also serves as a model for small, regional seed banks, called Seed Arks. She conducts training to people from all over the world so they can save their native seeds, and their food crop seeds. Seed Arks are off-grid solar powered seed banks that are built to keep seeds in the hands of the people.