When fires sweep across the landscape, they do much more than incinerate flammable items in their way. Flames cause chemical changes to soils, drive out animals, and expose areas to far more sun and rain than they once experienced. In some cases, a burn can be enough to shift not only erosion patterns but entire […]
Blue Oak Ranch Reserve
Wildfire expands Blue Oak Ranch hydrology study
By Tim Stephens, UC Santa Cruz The SCU Lightning Complex Fire swept through the oak woodlands of Blue Oak Ranch Reserve atop Mount Hamilton as a low, quickly moving grass burn, sparing the reserve’s buildings and most of the oak trees. But the August 20 blaze caused serious losses at a watershed research site established […]
Wildfires spark burn recovery study at 9 UC Natural Reserves
August wildfires incinerated tens of thousands of acres across seven UC Natural Reserves and affected parkland adjacent to two more reserves. This fall, the UC Natural Reserve System (NRS) will deploy rapid response teams to characterize the extent and intensity of the burns, as well as the effects of wildfire on a wide range of […]
Teaching a field program amid a pandemic
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 […]
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 […]
Ranch transformed into premier 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. When Blue Oak Ranch Reserve joined the UC Natural Reserve System in 2007, living conditions on the site could be described as rustic at best. The […]
Arbor Creek Experimental Watershed: watching the flow of water through oak woodlands
Foothill oak woodlands are among the most familiar ecosystems in California. Supporting deer and squirrels, acorn woodpeckers and oak moths, these habitats occupy tens of thousands of acres across the state. Yet change is coming to these widespread habitats. Like much of the West, California’s foothills are predicted to experience shifts in climate in coming […]
California Heartbeat Initiative soars ahead
A University of California project to study the availability of water in California’s ecosystems is off to a soaring start. The California Heartbeat Initiative (CHI) uses drones, sap flow meters, and other remote sensing techniques to monitor the water status of plants across large swaths of the landscape. The project aims to interpret water status […]