By Kathleen M. Wong, UC Natural Reserve System Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center is a premier site for studying the Sonoran Desert. It sprawls across two major drainages and the crest of a mountain range, enabling the study of species ranging from bighorn sheep to barrel cactus. The reserve began hosting field scientists even […]
Proposition 84 Funds
State funds secure buildings and water for the Granites
Prop. 84 helped fund new water sources, new housing, and meeting space, and made problematic buildings habitable again.
Timeworn cattle ranch remade into NRS reserve
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System When sculptor and philanthropist Duke Sedgwick bequeathed his family’s sprawling Santa Ynez Valley ranch to the University of California, he wrote that he wanted to create a “conjunction of learning and land.” The more than 5,800-acre spread on the western slope of Figueroa Mountain certainly seemed ideal for […]
Keeping Carpinteria Salt Marsh connected to the tides
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System Carpinteria Salt Marsh is a world defined by mud, floods, and salt. Ocean brine inundates its twisting channels twice a day, fostering plants that can tolerate salty leaves and perpetually wet feet. The long-legged birds that nest and forage here dine on snails and fishes living within its […]
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. By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System Heritage buildings can be burdens as much as blessings. Replete with character and handcrafted details, many also lack present-day […]
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. By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System The Quail Ridge peninsula rises from the southern shore of Lake Berryessa like the corrugated carapace of a tortoise. The peaks […]
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. By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System In the world of stream research, the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory is a big deal. Developed as a […]
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. By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System Nestled in a canyon on the western slope of San Jacinto Peak, the James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve is […]