GABE VERDUZCO
- Words Stephanie d’Arc Taylor
- Photography Justin Chung
A microscopic tour of California’s beetles and botanicals.
- Words Stephanie d’Arc Taylor
- Photography Justin Chung
The platonic ideal of a park ranger—a rugged outdoors type most at home in wild places—infrequently corresponds with the reality of the underpaid, beleaguered government employees working the information desks at America’s state parks. Gabe Verduzco, however, is an exception.
Having loved plants since he was a kid in California’s fertile Central Valley, Verduzco now devotes his professional and personal life to maintaining and protecting the native trees, flowers and fauna of Southern California. One recent Friday morning, Verduzco brought Stephanie d’Arc Taylor on a tour of the South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes and chatted with her as he surveyed native trees for evidence of invasive pests.
Stephanie d’Arc Taylor: How did you first get interested in plants?
Gabe Ve...
