A graduate student at UC Riverside, Russell has been studying the prevalence of the chytrid fungus at NRS reserves to protect wild amphibians from a lethal disease.
The Northern Patwin people lived along the stretch of the inner Coast Range now known as Quail Ridge Reserve.
Early Mexican settlers to California established a rancho on the site; their grazing cattle would fundamentally alter the area’s vegetation.
The town of Monticello grew up on the site of the rancho and became a hub for the region’s farmers.
The building of a massive dam created Lake Berryessa. Now the area’s defining feature, the lake has served to protect Quail Ridge from development and exotic invasion, and helps make it an ideal site for its current incarnation as a UC Natural Reserve.