Who We Are
Three Generations. One Vision.
Beemats is a family business built on a shared appreciation for nature, hands-on experience, and a belief that environmental challenges can often be solved by working with natural systems.
What began with Steve Beeman's career in marine biology and habitat restoration grew into a family business with his son, Forest, and eventually his grandson, Patrick. Today, all three generations contribute their own experience and perspective to the development, installation, and continued improvement of Beemats Floating Wetlands.
Steve Beeman
Founder & President
The story of Beemats begins with Steve Beeman.
With a Master's degree in Marine Biology from the University of Hawaii, Steve has spent nearly five decades working with native Florida plant communities. He began his career as a field biologist for the State of Florida before founding Ecoshores, Inc., where he was involved in planting more than 2,500 acres of native habitat.
In 2000, Steve and his son Forest founded Beeman's Nursery. Their work growing native grasses, aquatic plants, and other species for restoration projects eventually led them to explore a different question: how could living plants be used to actively remove nutrients from polluted water?
That question became the foundation for Beemats Floating Wetlands.
Steve and Forest developed and patented the Beemats system in 2009, combining Steve's background in marine biology, native ecosystems, and restoration with their practical experience growing plants in real-world environments.
Steve continues to guide the company with the same philosophy that has shaped his career from the beginning: understand how nature works, and find ways to work with it.
Patrick Rogers
Logistics & Development
The third generation of the Beeman family is represented by Steve's grandson, Patrick Rogers.
Patrick brings a different set of skills to the family business, combining engineering and business education with hands-on experience developing and implementing Beemats projects.
Patrick earned a B.A. in Engineering and Business from the University of Texas at Tyler. Since joining Beemats, he has designed and developed new techniques, tools, and machines that have helped improve the company's ability to build, install, maintain, and harvest floating wetlands.
He has overseen Beemats projects across Florida, Virginia, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina, while continuing to monitor and maintain installations outside of Florida.
Patrick represents the next generation of the company—bringing new ideas and technical problem-solving to a system that began with his grandfather's work with plants and water.
Forest Beeman
Co-Founder & Vice President
For Forest, Beemats is both a family legacy and the continuation of a career spent working directly with plants.
Forest earned a B.S. in Environmental Horticulture from Texas A&M University and has spent more than two decades producing native grasses, shrubs, and aquatic plants for Florida landscapes, restoration projects, dunes, pond banks, and estuarine shorelines.
Working alongside his father, Steve, Forest helped transform years of experience with native plants into the Beemats Floating Wetlands system. His knowledge of plant selection and cultivation has been especially important in determining which species perform best under different water-quality and environmental conditions.
Forest has researched and developed plant selections for Beemats that have helped improve nutrient-removal efficiency in both freshwater and salt-affected stormwater ponds.
Today, Forest serves as Vice President of Beemats and President of Beeman's Nursery, continuing the work that he and his father began more than two decades ago.
A Family Approach to Environmental Solutions
Steve, Forest, and Patrick each bring something different to Beemats.
Steve brings decades of biological and ecological experience. Forest brings generations of horticultural knowledge and an understanding of how plants perform in challenging environments. Patrick brings engineering, development, logistics, and a new generation's perspective on how the technology can continue to evolve.
Together, they represent three generations of the same idea: that healthy waterways and healthy ecosystems can be built by understanding and harnessing the natural processes already at work around us.
What makes Beemats unique isn't only the technology. It's the combination of scientific knowledge, horticultural experience, engineering, and decades of hands-on work that goes into every project.
And because Beemats is a family business, that knowledge doesn't simply stay in one generation—it gets passed down, challenged, improved, and carried forward.
Three generations of the Beeman family. One continuing mission: to use living plants to help create cleaner, healthier waterways.