Eric Metcalf, of Albany, Ohio, (right) shares a joke with Eric Hayes, of Coolville, Ohio, (center), his business partner and Josh Oates, a friend the two are training, as he prepares herbicide used for invasive plant management at a property in Hocking County, Ohio. Metcalf and Hayes founded Keeping it Native in early 2021, after years of doing native habitat restoration on the side of full-time jobs they both had the Ohio Division of Natural Resources. “I can’t believe where we are now,” said Hayes, 31. “If you had asked me where in 2012, when I started doing this stuff, where I’d be today, I thought Keeping it Native would be just a hobby forever.”