Stunt Ranch

Personnel & Contact Information
Faculty reserve director and director of education and community outreach on campus.

Office: Carol Felixson, UCLA Life Science Building, Box 951606, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, Phone: 310-206-3887, cfelixso@ucla.edu

Location
1201 Stunt Road, Calabasas, CA, 91302 (Los Angeles County, in the Santa Monica Mountains); 4.5 mi north of Malibu; 26 mi by road from UCLA. Driving Directions

Facilities
Planning is underway for the reconstruction of the education/research center destroyed in the 1993 Malibu/Topanga fire.

Databases
Maps, photos, geologic surveys; species lists of fungi, vascular plants, and vertebrates.

Size & Elevation
125 ha (310 acres); 392 to 472 m (1,285 to 1,550 ft)

Average Precipitation & Temperatures
610 mm (24 in) per year; Summer Temperatures: 32°C (90°F), can top 41°C (105°F), Winter Temperatures: 4°C (40°F), can dip to -4°C (25°F)

WELCOME TO THE UCLA STUNT RANCH SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS RESERVE.

For an extensive list of references see our external links section.
For weather data across the western United States, including other UC NRS Reserves, click here.
For weather data at Stunt Ranch click here.
To see the Fire History of the Cold Creek watershed and the Santa Monica Mountains from 1925 to 2010, click here.
For updates about the Reserve and activities in the Santa Monica Mountains, follow us on facebook and join the Reserve's listserv by sending an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve is a 310-acre biological field station located four miles inland on the north central flank of the Santa Monica Mountains.The UCLA Reserve officially joined the University of California Natural Reserve System (UC NRS) in November 1995, becoming the system's 32nd site and one of two administered by the Los Angeles campus.

The other site managed by UCLA is the White Mountain Research Center, which joined the NRS in July, 2012. The Center is hosted by the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA with NRS support.

Dedicated to contributing to the understanding and wise management of the Earth and its natural ecosystems, the mission of the Stunt Ranch Reserve is to support university-level teaching, research, and public service at Stunt Ranch and other protected natural areas in the heavily urbanized Los Angeles area. Access is by prior approval only; the Reserve does not charge for use at this time.

To fulfill the public service aspect of its mission the Reserve offers public education programs to those who live in the heavily urbanized areas of Los Angeles. The Reserve helps to facilitate, and participate in, many cooperative programs with regional government agencies, conservation groups and homeowner associations. Most noteably, UCLA's reserve has forged a critical partnership between the campus and K-12 schools as part of a formal curriculum coordinated by the Cold Creek Docents, a division of the Mountains Restoration Trust.

Located in the relatively pristine Cold Creek watershed of the Santa Monica Mountains, a portion of one of the five Mediterranean Climate Regions of the world, the Stunt Ranch Reserve includes fine examples of chaparral, live oak woodland and riparian woodland ecosystems.

* A special thanks to all the talented kids who created art for the "Drawing from Nature" Los Angeles Times Kids' Reading Room series included throughout this site.