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 […]
News
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 […]
California Biodiversity Network to protect state’s natural heritage
California is home to more species of plants and animals than any other state, accounting for roughly a third of all species found in the nation. But intensive agriculture, resource extraction, habitat loss, invasive species, dwindling water supplies, and a changing climate pose imminent threats to these natural riches. With this in mind, the UC […]
Land donation expands Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve
The grandson of the couple whose lands were the basis of the UC Natural Reserve System’s Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve have donated an inholding of pristine desert. The gift protects a key portion of the Mojave Desert site, and enables the reserve to access state bond money to improve reserve facilities. “This land supports really […]
Historic Hastings buildings renewed
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. Heritage buildings can be burdens as much as blessings. Replete with character and handcrafted details, many also lack present-day essentials such as up-to-code wiring and insulation. […]
Thinning Valentine Camp’s forest to save it
To step into Valentine Camp is to enter the forest from a childhood fairy tale. Dense stands of Jeffrey pine, red fir, and lodgepole pine line its access road and cloak slopes that tilt east toward the Sierra Nevada. The trees grow so thick that it is easy to imagine Hansel and Gretel getting lost […]
Assembling Quail Ridge 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. The Quail Ridge peninsula rises from the southern shore of Lake Berryessa like the corrugated carapace of a tortoise. The peaks of its steep hills curve from Highway […]