Krikor Andonian and Tim Miller, instructors of the NRS’s California Ecology and Conservation program, deliver a report from the field on their Fall 2020 course. CEC program is one of relatively few UC classes being conducted in person right now, and is likely be the only one that will remain in its own social bubble […]
Blog Post
California Biodiversity Network to protect state’s natural heritage
California is home to more species of plants and animals than any other state, accounting for roughly a third of all species found in the nation. But intensive agriculture, resource extraction, habitat loss, invasive species, dwindling water supplies, and a changing climate pose imminent threats to these natural riches. With this in mind, the UC […]
Land donation expands Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve
The grandson of the couple whose lands were the basis of the UC Natural Reserve System’s Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve have donated an inholding of pristine desert. The gift protects a key portion of the Mojave Desert site, and enables the reserve to access state bond money to improve reserve facilities. “This land supports really […]
Historic Hastings buildings renewed
This story is part of NRS reserves transformed by Proposition 84 funds, a series describing the facilities improvements and expansions at NRS reserves supported by Proposition 84 bond funds. Heritage buildings can be burdens as much as blessings. Replete with character and handcrafted details, many also lack present-day essentials such as up-to-code wiring and insulation. […]
Thinning Valentine Camp’s forest to save it
To step into Valentine Camp is to enter the forest from a childhood fairy tale. Dense stands of Jeffrey pine, red fir, and lodgepole pine line its access road and cloak slopes that tilt east toward the Sierra Nevada. The trees grow so thick that it is easy to imagine Hansel and Gretel getting lost […]
Assembling Quail Ridge Reserve
This story is part of NRS reserves transformed by Proposition 84 funds, a series describing the facilities improvements and expansions at NRS reserves supported by Proposition 84 bond funds. The Quail Ridge peninsula rises from the southern shore of Lake Berryessa like the corrugated carapace of a tortoise. The peaks of its steep hills curve from Highway […]
FUERTE connects Latinx students with environmental sciences
by Shelly Leachman, UC Santa Barbara To get a range of possible answers to the most difficult questions, it stands to reason you’d want an array of minds examining those issues. In the environmental sciences, a broad suite of fields that encompasses everything from marine biology to habitat restoration, wildlife conservation and climate science, that […]
2020 wildfires burn six UC Natural Reserves; seventh threatened
Wildfires are burning at an unprecedented six reserves in the UC Natural Reserve System across northern and central California, and threaten a seventh. Blazes sparked by both lightning and arson have consumed nine buildings and one vehicle, as well as an untold number of acres of grassland, forest, chaparral, and other natural habitats. Beginning the […]