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 […]
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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 […]
FUERTE connects Latinx students with environmental sciences
by Shelly Leachman, UC Santa Barbara To get a range of possible answers to the most difficult questions, it stands to reason you’d want an array of minds examining those issues. In the environmental sciences, a broad suite of fields that encompasses everything from marine biology to habitat restoration, wildlife conservation and climate science, that […]
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 […]
Bond funds renew stream research, build a lecture hall at SNARL
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. In the world of stream research, the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory is a big deal. Developed as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service site for […]
New cabins foster community at James 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. Nestled in a canyon on the western slope of San Jacinto Peak, the James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve is a place dear to the hearts of […]
Careful planning yields a better Big Creek 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. Big Sur is one of California’s scenic wonders. A nexus of rushing creeks, vertical mountains, cool redwood stands and underwater kelp forests, this slender section of […]
A phoenix from the ashes: Stunt Ranch field station
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 threat of wildfire is an unsettling reality across southern California. In the Los Angeles Basin, Santa Ana winds can tip that risk into terrible disaster. […]