Natural Reserve System Natural Reserve System UNIVERSITY OF university of california 1111 Franklin St. The UC Natural Reserve System provides a Oakland, CA 94607-5200 ucnrs.org library of ecosystems throughout California. Reserves offer outdoor laboratories to field scientists, classrooms without walls for students, and nature’s inspiration to all.

Founded in 1965 to provide a network of wildland sites available for scientific study, the NRS has grown to include more than 40 locations encompassing more than 756,000 acres across the state.

The NRS is the world’s largest university- Reserves are listed by managing campus operated system of natural reserves; no Berkeley Los Angeles San Diego other network of field sites can match its 1 Angelo Coast Range Reserve 17 Stunt Ranch Santa Monica 27 Dawson Los Monos LOBSANG WANGDU size, scope, and ecological diversity. 2 Mountains Reserve Canyon Reserve 3 Chickering American River 18 White Mountain Research Center 28 Elliott Chaparral Reserve Reserve Merced 29 Kendall-Frost Mission Bay 4 Hastings Natural History Marsh Reserve 19 Merced Vernal Pools and Reservation 30 Grassland Reserve 5 Jenny Pygmy Forest Reserve 20 Yosemite Field Station Santa Barbara 6 Point Reyes Field Station 31 Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve 7 Sagehen Creek Field Station Riverside 32 Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve 21 Box Springs Reserve Davis 33 Kenneth S. Norris Rancho 22 Boyd Deep Canyon Marino Reserve 8 Desert Research Center 34 Reserve 9 Jepson Prairie Reserve 23 Emerson Oaks Reserve 35 10 Lassen Field Station 24 James San Jacinto 36 Sierra Nevada Aquatic 11 McLaughlin Natural Reserve Mountains Reserve Research Laboratory 12 25 37 Valentine Camp 13 Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve 26 Sweeney Granite Mountains Santa Cruz Desert Research Center Irvine 38 Año Nuevo Island Reserve 14 Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve 39 Natural Reserve 15 San Joaquin Marsh Reserve 40 Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

16 Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego 41 PEGGY L. FIEDLER M. WONG KATHLEEN Desert Research Center Natural Reserve System UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Fort Ord Natural Reserve UC Santa Cruz Reserves Decades as a military base preserved the maritime chaparral of Fort Ord Natural Año Nuevo Island Reserve Reserve from development. The dense vegetation includes In winter, the beaches of ceanothus and manzanita Año Nuevo Island teem with stunted by sandy, nutrient-poor battling, birthing northern soils. Legless lizards burrow elephant seals. In spring through the loose substrate in and summer, the clifftops search of insects to eat, while come alive with breeding woodrats build nest mounds cormorants, screeching gulls, beneath oaks dripping with and majestic brown pelicans. lichen. Endangered species Located on a marine terrace • UC Santa Cruz protected here include sand separated from the mainland • gilia and Smith’s blue butterfly. by a narrow channel, the • CHRISTOPHER WOODCOCK island also holds the ruins • of a historic lightstation. For over 40 years, the reserve has hosted groundbreaking studies on marine mammal behavior. Año Nuevo Island is available for scientific study through an agreement with California State Parks.

PAT MORRIS Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve The Santa Lucia Mountains Younger Lagoon Reserve plunge into the Pacific A rare Central Coast Ocean in the heart of wetland, Younger Lagoon scenic Big Sur. From Reserve encompasses fresh ridgetops clad in rare and saltwater marshes, Santa Lucia fir and coast pickleweed flats, and a redwood, Landels-Hill Big pocket beach featuring Creek Reserve descends native dune vegetation. through oak woodlands Tidepools harboring crabs and coastal grasslands. and fish are located just Steelhead trout ply clear offshore, while the federally canyon streams. Offshore, endangered tidwater goby sea otters take refuge in thrives in low-oxygen lagoon the kelp beds of Big Creek waters. Upland terraces, State Marine Reserve. CHRISTOPHER WOODCOCK once farm fields, are being CHRISTOPHER WOODCOCK restored to coastal prairie.