The NRS has acquired 3,280 acres in the Mt. Hamilton Range of eastern Santa Clara County to serve as a center for environmental research, university-level teaching, and public outreach. The Blue Oak Ranch Reserve will be administered by UC Berkeley’s Office of Research and protected by a conservation easement held by The Nature Conservancy. Dr. Michael Hamilton, an internationally recognized expert in using technology to further environmental science, has been selected to manage the reserve and oversee the design of a “green” facility that will serve as a home for researchers and classes.
The Blue Oak Ranch Reserve provides a wealth of research and teaching opportunities in a wide range of important Californian habitats. In addition to the blue oak woodlands that inspired its name, the site also includes extensive upland valley oak woodlands, mixed (blue, black, valley, coast live) oak woodlands, steep densely vegetated canyons, and well preserved perennial streams with intact riparian vegetation and populations of native trout, river otters, and yellow-legged frogs. In total, the reserve supports more than 130 species of birds, 41 species of mammals, 7 species of amphibians, fourteen species of reptiles, seven species of fish, and hundreds of species of invertebrates.
 The new reserve, the result of an anonymous gift, is embedded within more than 180,000 acres of land permanently protected by parks and open space (including UC’s nearby Lick Observatory) and is an important connection in a long corridor for migratory wildlife between Alameda and Santa Clara Counties. This location provides opportunities for major research projects that address large-scale conservation and land management issues of regional, state, and national concern. The reserve’s location near a fast-growing urban area also makes it an ideal site for studying issues like nitrogen deposition and loss of biodiversity that are particularly acute in the urban-wildland interface.
* * * |
