A historic clubhouse amid the arid badlands and cacti of the Colorado Desert is the newest addition to the UC Natural Reserve System. The Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center will provide students and researchers with access to adjacent Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The reserve includes an airy former country club on nearly four acres situated […]
Blog Post
Snakes in the Grass
by Michael Hamilton, Director, Blue Oak Ranch Reserve, and Rulon Clark, Associate Professor, San Diego State University One would think that in the oak woodlands, the most important predators would be mammals such as mountain lion, coyote and bobcat. But new field research is discovering that the most important predator may be rattlesnakes in terms […]
Ecologist draws students, city kids to nature’s wonders
Students cherish them. Their colleagues admire them. Former students remember them as being a major influence in their lives. And now the UCLA Academic Senate is honoring them with UCLA’s highest teaching prize. Among the 2011 winners: Phil Rundel, Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Director of the UCLA Natural Reserves. Former students […]
NRS Reserve Wins Human Diversity Award
Sagehen Creek Field Station‘s Adventure Risk Challenge (ARC) program has won the 2011 Human Diversity Award from the Organization of Biological Field Stations. The award recognizes programs that increase the involvement of underrepresented groups in field science. The ARC program brings motivated high school English language learners into natural environments as a means to improve […]
New Leader for UC Santa Barbara Reserves
from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Managemen Bren professor of environmental microbiology Patricia Holden has been named director of the UCSB Natural Reserves, effective July 1. She will replace William Murdoch, professor of population ecology in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology (EEMB), who served as director for the past ten […]
Gertrude Emerson, Emerson Oaks Donor, 1918-2011
Gertrude Emerson, who donated land in Temecula to the University of California to establish Emerson Oaks Reserve, passed away in Capistrano Beach on May 9, 2011. Trudi Emerson, as she was known to friends and family, was 93. “She was an utter delight,” says UC Natural Reserve System Coordinator Violet Nakayama, who worked on reserve […]
Into the Deep with Elephant Seals
The premiere of “Into the Deep with Elephant Seals,” a QUEST TV program, follows UC Santa Cruz marine biologist Dan Costa as he uncovers how northern elephant seals behave at sea. Every winter, the seals migrate to the NRS’s Año Nuevo Island Reserve and adjacent beaches on the San Mateo County shore to breed. Costa […]
Celebrate Earth Day with the NRS
The Natural Reserve System is celebrating Earth Day 2011 with two new television programs. The shows will be broadcast on University of California Television/UCTV starting April 22, Earth Day. Tour the NRS’s field stations and learn what scientists are discovering about California’s rich biodiversity. The two new programs focus on reserves along the coast of […]