Ron Russo

Ron was a naturalist with the East Bay Regional Park District for 37 years with 17 years as Chief Naturalist before retiring in 2003 to work full time at his passions of plant galls and shark biology. He is the recipient of the distinguished Fellow Award from the National Association for Interpretation in 1989 and served as an Instructor for California State Park Rangers for 25 years at the William Penn Mott Training Center at Asilomar, California. Ron also served as wilderness guide for Cloud Ridge Naturalists aboard the MV Catalyst in Southeast Alaska for 18 years guiding trips to observe and study Alaska's rich array of plants and animals including humpback whales and grizzly bears. He is known for his broad knowledge and enthusiastic teaching. Ron is the author of 45 articles in various magazines and journals including a feature article in Natural History Magazine in 2010 and five technical papers on leopard shark biology.