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 […]
Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve
NRS instrumental in biologist’s ascent to grad school
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System Tim Brown spends his summers on top of the Golden State. While other Californians tan at the beach, hold BBQs, or relax at the pool, he makes a beeline for the high country. Striding across snowfields and rock scree atop eastern California’s highest ranges, this UC Santa Cruz […]
Massive debris flow swamps Big Creek Reserve as heavy rains follow summer wildfire
By Guy Lasnier, UC Santa Cruz Boulders the size of vehicles and decades-old redwoods were ripped from the banks of the Big Creek drainage when an atmospheric river inundated the Landels-Hill Big Creek Natural Reserve on the Big Sur coast in late January. More than 14 inches fell in two bouts in a 50-hour period between […]
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 […]
Winter rains take toll on wildfire-burned Big Creek
Burned by fire this past summer, the NRS’s Landel’s-Hill Big Creek Reserve is now suffering the ravages of landslides triggered by torrential rains dumped by an atmospheric river. The Dolan Fire, set by an arsonist in late August 2020, denuded vegetation across the rugged reserve, which stretches across 1,750-acres of Big Sur from the Pacific […]
2020-21 Mathias Grant recipients
Most people will be staying close to home in 2021 due to the pandemic. UC Santa Barbara graduate student Samantha Sambado will not be among them. Her doctoral research will take her on multiple journeys up and down California, in search of ticks and the human pathogens they carry. “Ticks are the number one vector […]
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 […]
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 […]