Russel Barsh is the director of Kwiaht-Center for the Historical Ecology of the Salish Sea. He studied at Harvard, taught at the University of Washington, and worked for many years at the United Nations on indigenous peoples and their ecosystems before returning to the Northwest and organizing Kwiaht. With a background in human ecology he is especially interested in cultural and economic factors influencing human impacts on the environment, the role of schools, and adaptation of animals and plants to humans. He lives on Lopez Island Washington.