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Fort Ord |
Contact Information
Gage Dayton
UCSC Natural Reserves
c/o ENVS Nat. Sci. II
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Phone: 831-459-4971
ghdayton@ucsc.edu |
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Location
Monterey County, 4 mi N
of downtown Monterey; 40 mi S of Santa Cruz. Map Quest |
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Facilities
None; the site is best suited for day use
(although motel facilities are locally
available). |
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Databases
Baseline-survey data collected for the
Fort Ord Base Closure Habitat
Management Plan (HMP); excellent sets
of aerial maps; database of shrub
composition, bird occurrence patterns,
and vertebrate and invertebrate fauna
under development. Databases of rare
annual plant distributions, perennial
shrubs composition, rough occurrence
patterns of some birds and legless and
horned lizards, selected material on ant
distribution. |
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Personnel
Reserve director and steward on UCSC
campus. |
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Size
245 ha (605 acres) |
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Elevation
21 to 58 m (70 to 190 ft) |
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Average Precipitation
46 cm (18 in) per year |
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Average Temperatures
15° C (59° F) |
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 Transect
Articles
specific
to Fort Ord |
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 Mathias
Grant Research
specific
to Fort Ord |
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Site Spec Sheet (PDF) |
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<••• •••> |
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Natural Reserve |
Established in 1996 |
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| Fort Ord Website |
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Located on part of the former Fort Ord Army Base, Fort Ord Natural Reserve
supports excellent examples of maritime chaparral endemic to the Monterey
Bay region. This rare habitat and several associated plant and wildlife species depend
largely on Fort Ord land for their survival. Eleven listed plant species reside there
(including the federally endangered, state-threatened sand gilia and the federally
threatened Monterey spineflower), along with six listed animal species (including
the federally endangered Smith’s blue butterfly). The site also supports a mixture
of other habitats: coast live oak, coastal scrub, mixed annual grassland, and native
perennial grassland. The reserve was established because of its unique flora and
fauna of the Monterey Bay maritime chaparral and as mitigation for the adjacent UCSC
Monterey Bay Education, Science, and Technology Center (MBEST) under the Fort
Ord Base Closure Habitat Management Plan (HMP). As part of this plan, the reserve
will protect rare habitats and associated special-status species into perpetuity and foster
teaching/research opportunities, especially in conservation biology of the HMP species. |
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Photo Gallery |
Field learning
Rich habitat diversity,
unique biotic communities, and proximity
to UCSC and other campuses
create valuable teaching opportunities;
students use the site for internship programs
and independent research on
projects that directly support management
efforts.
Habitat restoration
Through a cooperative
agreement with the U.S. Army,
UCSC researchers study survival of rare
native annuals and potential uses of
native perennials as cover for large-scale
restoration; UCSC undergraduates remove
invasive exotic flora and restore
seven acres of maritime chaparral; small
disturbed areas available for other
experiments in restoration ecology.
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Selected Research
• Baseline studies: Status of HMP-listed
species; preliminary surveys of birds,
legless lizards, coast horned lizards, ants,
and habitat-use patterns.
• Conservation biology: Distribution and
genetic studies of the black and silver
forms of the California legless lizard;
survey of coast horned lizards; survey of
native ants and invasive Argentine ants;
research on the demographics and community
ecology of sand gilia, Monterey
spineflower and shrubs of the maritime
chaparral; the role of change in ant
biodiversity on seed dispersal; comparative
genetic and morphological analysis
of different and gilia populations.
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