By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System Climate is the hottest topic in California these days. As global warming heats up the West, it’s set off a cascade of effects ranging from toxic algal blooms, to tree die-offs, to wildfires of unprecedented size and ferocity. The situation has everyone asking the same question: what is […]
Blue Oak Ranch Reserve
Fire and the foothills: reducing wildfire threats while boosting biodiversity
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System The foothills of California are familiar to anyone who has ventured into county parks to hike: iconic oak savannas, chaparral-covered hillslopes, and grasslands. They encircle the Central Valley like a bathtub ring, and include much of the Coast and Transverse ranges. Ranging from a few hundred to a […]
Consequences of fire on California ecosystems
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 […]
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 […]