NRS Reserve Wins Human Diversity Award

June 17, 2011 By
The Adven­ture Risk Chal­lenge Pro­gram brings minor­ity stu­dents to UC Berkeley’s Sage­hen Creek Field Sta­tion for out­door lead­er­ship and aca­d­e­mic instruction.

Sage­hen Creek Field Sta­tion’s Adven­ture Risk Chal­lenge (ARC) pro­gram has won the 2011 Human Diver­sity Award from the Orga­ni­za­tion of Bio­log­i­cal Field Sta­tions. The award rec­og­nizes pro­grams that increase the involve­ment of under­rep­re­sented groups in field science.

The ARC pro­gram brings moti­vated high school Eng­lish lan­guage learn­ers into nat­ural envi­ron­ments as a means to improve their lit­er­acy, aca­d­e­mic, and lead­er­ship skills.

The lodg­ing and class­room facil­i­ties at UC NRS sites have served as base camps for ARC’s out­door pro­grams since the program’s incep­tion at Sage­hen Creek in 2004.

ARC’s 40-day sum­mer course takes stu­dents on out­door adven­tures such as back­pack­ing, rock climb­ing, kayak­ing, white water raft­ing. Between trips, stu­dents work to improve their Eng­lish skills and learn about the envi­ron­ment while stay­ing at a UC NRS reserve. ARC’s year-round pro­grams include tutor­ing, writ­ing work­shops, and week­end wilder­ness retreats.

ARC stu­dents cel­e­brate after climb­ing a peak near Lake Tahoe.

Sage­hen Creek Field Sta­tion encom­passes 8,000 acres on the east­ern slope of the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe. It pro­vides cab­ins, a lab­o­ra­tory, and teach­ing facil­i­ties for sci­en­tists, stu­dents, and other users on USDA For­est Ser­vice land.

A sec­ond ARC out­door pro­gram is now based at the NRS’s Yosemite Field Sta­tion. Man­aged by UC Merced, the facil­ity is located in the Wawona dis­trict of Yosemite National Park.

Over 90 per­cent of par­tic­i­pants have passed the Cal­i­for­nia High School Exit Exam, while 77 per­cent of par­tic­i­pants are attend­ing college.

ARC pro­grams are open to stu­dents in the North Tahoe/Truckee area, Merced County, and the San Fran­cisco Bay Area.

The Orga­ni­za­tion of Bio­log­i­cal Field Sta­tions sup­ports envi­ron­men­tal research, edu­ca­tion, and pub­lic under­stand­ing of the nat­ural envi­ron­ment. Its 226 mem­ber field sta­tions and marine lab­o­ra­to­ries are located around the world.

Filed Under: Sagehen Creek Field Station, Yosemite Field Station

New Leader for UC Santa Barbara Reserves

June 7, 2011 By

from the Bren School of Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence & Managemen

Patri­cia Holden has been named the direc­tor of the UCSB Nat­ural Reserves. Image credit: Bren School of Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence & Management

Bren pro­fes­sor of envi­ron­men­tal micro­bi­ol­ogy Patri­cia Holden has been named direc­tor of the UCSB Nat­ural Reserves, effec­tive July 1. She will replace William Mur­doch, pro­fes­sor of pop­u­la­tion ecol­ogy in the Depart­ment of Ecol­ogy, Evo­lu­tion and Marine Biol­ogy (EEMB), who served as direc­tor for the past ten years.

“Dr. Holden’s research addresses a wide range of top­ics involv­ing the inter­ac­tions of humans, bac­te­ria, and the envi­ron­ment,” said Michael With­erell, Vice Chan­cel­lor for Research, in announc­ing her ppointment. “We are for­tu­nate that a per­son of this stature and expe­ri­ence has agreed to take on this very impor­tant position.”

“Trish Holden brings a rare exper­tise in bac­te­r­ial ecol­ogy to the Nat­ural Reserve Sys­tem, and that’s very excit­ing. I’m sure she will be quickly embraced and strongly sup­ported by the highly col­le­gial com­mu­nity of sci­en­tists who work in the sys­tem. There’s plenty to do, and we’re delighted to have her,” said Peggy Fiedler, Direc­tor of the UC Nat­ural Reserve System.

The UCSB NRS is part of the UC Nat­ural Reserve Sys­tem. The sys­tem as a whole includes 36 sites com­pris­ing approx­i­mately 135,000 acres. All nine UC cam­puses, except­ing UCSF, which is pri­mar­ily a med­ical school, oper­ate reserves in the sys­tem. UCSB man­ages six reserves — Ken­neth S. Nor­ris Ran­cho Marino Reserve, Valen­tine East­ern Sierra Reserve and Valen­tine Camp, Coal Oil Point Reserve, Sedg­wick Reserve, Santa Cruz Island Reserve, and the Carpin­te­ria Salt Marsh.

View from Sedg­wick Reserve. Image credit: Nick di Croce

Each reserve was cho­sen to rep­re­sent a par­tic­u­lar nat­ural environment. The direc­tor is respon­si­ble for over­all man­age­ment of the NRS sites and pro­mot­ing research and edu­ca­tion pro­grams. Pro­fes­sor Holden will be sup­ported by Susan Swar­brick, Asso­ciate Direc­tor of the sys­tem, and the onsite direc­tor at each site.

All the reserves host researchers from UCSB, other UC cam­puses, and other uni­ver­si­ties, with  projects con­ducted on the sites typ­i­cally funded by the National Sci­ence Foun­da­tion or other agen­cies. The NRS pro­vides facil­i­ties such as hous­ing and sup­port such as equip­ment pro­tec­tion  at these often-remote sites.

“The Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Nat­ural Reserve Sys­tem is the largest university-run sys­tem of nat­ural reserves in the world, and UCSB man­ages the most impor­tant set of reserves within that sys­tem,” With­erell said. “Trish Holden and the superb staff of the UCSB Nat­ural Reserve Sys­tem will sup­port the superb pro­grams of teach­ing, research, and pub­lic ser­vice that are car­ried out at all of our reserves.”

Filed Under: Reserves