About My Work

My writing career began when I became fascinated with children's books I read to our daughter, Nichol. Lobel's Frog and Toad led me down the path I still follow. I also work as a biologist and when I tried to find nature books for Nichol, it seemed that few of them combined real life images and accurate science. In those days I was also seeing, firsthand, the incredible damage to stream and ocean habitats that was occurring in the 1970s in the Pacific Northwest. I was angry about habitat destruction, but wanted to soften my anger and turned to writing and working with kids on environmental projects.

My vision is to share nature's beauty with kids while helping them to gain a sense of responsibility for their community and the environment as a whole. Stated best in Hawaiian, I hope kids gain a sense they can Malama i ke Kai- Protect the Ocean in a way you might protect your family and friends.

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WHAT'S NEW

OUR THREE BEARS

New from Boyds Mills, features some of the most magnificent bear photographs as seen throught the lens of Thomas Mangelsen. If you have never seen his photos up close and in larger format, stop by his Images of Nature galleries the next time you are in the Denver Airport, strolling the streets of Jackson, Wyoming, or visiting any number of other locations out west.

Ron and Tom's new book is part of a much larger effort to put paw to the hiking trail and:

HELP SAVE THE GRIZZLY, THREE BEARS AT A TIME..............
Ron has teamed once again with the Trust for Public Land to help buy land as part of a project hoping to help link the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with Canadian habitats. Once secure, these lands will provide pathways for large predators, especially endangered grizzly bears.

This project started when Mrs. Kitto's fifth grade class filled a honey bear container with nickels, dimes, and quarters.........
They discovered that one honey bear can hold as much as $17 and that their funds could actually buy habitat for bears. They did research on grizzly bears and studied maps of bear movements and habitat needs, then took action. They started collecting more change and moved on to a bigger effort. These students at Wilson Elementary in Wilson, Wyoming were soon selling copies of OUR THREE BEARS each morning before school. With a generous discount from Boyds Mills Press, they were able to send more than $1,000 in proceeds to the Trust for Public Land in Bozeman, Montana. All the while, Mrs. Kitto smiled, enjoying her class as they learned real life math skills while helping their world.

Inspired by Wilson Elementary, OUR THREE BEARS remains available as a fund raiser. You can help raise funds for a worthy cause while reading this great introduction to Black, Grizzly, and Polar Bears. Purchase of Our Three Bears as part of the project will insure that donations go directly to setting aside land for the grizzly. Plans for a Polar Bear and Black Bear project are also in the works.

Get in touch with Ron Hirschi whalemail@waypoint.com for more details, including an offer of a much reduced author visit rate if your school helps raise funds for the Trust for Public Land or a land protection group in your community. Check out the Montana Legacy Project at www.themontanalegacyproject.org for information on lands to be purchased for grizzly bears. For related information and classroom projects, check out the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative at www.y2y.net.

WHO LIVES IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA

WHO LIVES IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA is Ron's newest coloring book from Island Heritage. Filled with sea life not usually seen face to face, it also includes not one, not two, but four different sharks, including the rare and only recently discovered Megamouth!

Ron is offering WHO LIVES IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA as a fund raiser as part of projects to protect and purchase shoreline habitats in Puget Sound. See his marine ecology pages and much more at www.mudup.org , being sure to click on the Kid's Corner to see Tammy Yee's free downloadable coloring pages of kelp forests, eelgrass beds, and a walk with a S'Klallam Seya (Grandmother).

Get in touch with Ron to learn how your class or community group can arrange a seining trip to a Puget Sound Beach to learn more about endangered fish and disappearing habitats you can protect. If you've never held a live kelp greenling, staghorn sculpin, or baby salmon, these trips are for you!