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Fort Ord |
| Contact Information Margaret H. Fusari UCSC Natural Reserves c/o ENVS Nat. Sci. II 1156 High Street Santa Cruz, CA 95064 Phone: 831-459-4971 fusari@cats.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 242 ha (606 acres) |
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| Elevation 242 ha (606 acres) |
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| Average Precipitation 46 cm (18 in) per year |
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| Average Temperatures 242 ha (606 acres) |
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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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| Natural Reserve | Established in 1996 |  |
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| Fort Ord Website | ||||
| 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. | ||||
 Photo Gallery |
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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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