|
|
|
|
Thinning Valentine Camp's forest to save it
As wildfire fills the West with smoke, Californians are coming to the realization that it takes work to establish more fire-resistant forests. Valentine Camp is getting ahead of this curve with an ambitious project to reduce fire fuels in its forest. The effort will keep the forest healthier, the town safer, and provide fodder for forest management research to boot. Read more >
|
|
FUERTE program to diversify environmental sciences
In the sciences, environmental fields lag far behind medicine, engineering, and other disciplines in terms of diversity and inclusion. A new program called FUERTE seeks to bridge that gap by introducing Latinx undergraduates at UC Santa Barbara to ecology and evolutionary biology. The program will include a visit to the NRS's Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory for immersive learning. Reserve director Carol Blanchette is one of the program's two principal investigators. Read more >>
|
|
Assembling Quail Ridge Reserve
Developing a functional NRS reserve is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Many pieces—from scientifically interesting ecosystems, to decent roads, to accommodations—must be in place for a reserve to reach its full potential. Staff at Quail Ridge Reserve used funds from Prop. 84 to expand the reserve's lands and housing, then leveraged those gains to establish facilities needed to draw more researchers and classes. Wildfires seared the reserve this year, but staff are determined to return Quail Ridge to a busy and sought after field station. Read more >>
|
|
Historic Hastings buildings renewed
Hastings Natural History Reservation in Carmel Valley is one of UC's oldest field stations. So it should come as no surprise that its buildings—an assortment of former ranch houses, cabins, and even a former school—needed major repairs, modern utilities, or outright replacing. Prop. 84 bond funds brought reserve facilities into the twenty-first century and readied them for another century of safe visitor use. Read more >>
|
|
|
Untangling Bodega's ribbon worms
The NRS's new Field Science Fellowship funds UC undergraduates to do field work at a reserve for a summer with a UC faculty mentor. Madeline Frey has been surveying ribbon worms at Bodega Marine Reserve with guidance from Prof. Eric Sanford of UC Davis. She and Sanford created this terrific video to share what she's discovered.
|
|
|
Bathing beauties
The NRS's Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve is home to one of California's most endangered shorebirds, Ridgway's rail. The reserve has little nesting huts that float over the water, keeping chicks safe from high tides and predators like domestic cats. Another bonus: cameras installed in the huts give scientists a peek into rail family life. More reserve rail videos >> |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
