A late January 2021 deluge triggered a mass wasting event at the NRS’s Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve in Big Sur that took out roads, trees, and tons of soil.
The California Heartbeat Initiative is applying remote sensing and ground surveys to study how multiple UC Natural Reserves are recovering after wildfires that occurred during summer 2020. Findings will help scientists understand how native ecosystems rebound after wildfire—a topic of increasing importance as climate change makes fires more frequent across the West.
Years of textbook lessons come alive during Ecology and Conservation in Practice, a field course taught at the NRS’s Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve.
Situated on California’s scenic Big Sur Coast, the NRS’s Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve provides researchers and students with a spectacular location to study nature. Scientists use the reserve to track water quality, monitor fish populations, and survey California’s disappearing native wildflowers. Students from UC Santa Cruz use the adjacent marine reserve to test their underwater research skills, and schoolchildren visit Big Creek to learn how animals adapt to their environment.