The Angelo Coast Range Reserve, one of the NRS’s most diverse sites, is located on the South Fork of the Eel River. The reserve encompasses four aquatic and at least 26 terrestrial habitat types, including redwood groves, mixed conifer/deciduous forests, meadows, several types of chaparral, and the state’s largest virgin Douglas-fir forest community. Olympic salamanders, flying squirrels, black bears, and federally threatened northern spotted owls are among the old-growth inhabitants. The reserve also protects four undisturbed watersheds, among them the six-square-mile Elder Creek watershed. These pristine aquatic ecosystems support salmon, steelhead trout, river otters, and Pacific giant salamanders.
Educational Outreach
Students from local public schools stay overnight on site and learn about the area’s natural and land-use history.
Selected Research
- Eel River food webs, productivity, and effects of disturbance by scouring winter floods and invasive species (bullfrogs and Sacramento squawfish) which threaten native yellow-legged frogs and native salmonids.
- Effects of river productivity on terrestrial consumers addressing linkages between river communities and surrounding uplands in the old-growth forest watershed. Impacts of fine riverbed sediments on food webs supporting the growth of juvenile steelhead.
Special Research of National Significance
- Airborne Laser Mapping
- Earth Surface Dynamics – understanding the processes that shape the Earth’s surface
- Eel River Critical Zone Observatory
Contact Information
Peter A. Steel
Angelo Coast Range Reserve
42101 Wilderness Road
Branscomb, CA 95417
Phone/Fax: 707-984-6653
psteel@berkeley.edu
Mendocino County, on South Fork of Eel River; 32 km (20 mi.) west of Laytonville; 241 km (150 mi.) north of San Francisco.
Facilities
Laboratory-dormitory complex provides two three-bedroom houses, two-bedroom faculty apartment, group facility for 35, science center with two lab rooms, classroom, computer room, and office space.
Reserve bibliography
The reserve bibliography includes citations of journal articles, books, theses, art, and other works published about or based on activities conducted at the reserve.
Databases
Plant List
Aerial photos, maps, climate and hydrology records, extensive species inventories, herbarium, insect collection, stand-age data, bibliography, and small library.
Personnel
Reserve manager on site; faculty reserve manager on campus. 1,748 hectares (4,320 acres), plus access
Size
3,130 hectares (7,735 acres), plus access to 3,500 acres of U.S. Bureau of Land Management property
Elevation
378 to 1,290 m (1,240 to 4,231 ft.)
Average Precipitation
203 cm (80 in.) per year (80 in/203cm)
Average Temperatures
August average: 29 ºC (85 ºF)
August maximum: 38 ºC (100 ºF)
Winter average: 0 ºC (32 ºF)
Winter minimum: -8 ºC (18 ºF)