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Stunt Ranch Links:
Annual Report/Highlights
Application Info
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January 1998 Update
The UCLA Stunt Ranch Reserve recently celebrated its two-year anniversary (November, 1997), and would like to officially begin 1998 by reporting on how the Reserve has been used and what is currently underway. The Reserve hosted over 3,000 users in the 1996-97 academic year. Its unique features as a natural laboratory and outdoor classroom just 45 minutes from the UCLA campus make its function central to the university's research, teaching, and outreach mission and to the State's environmental future. Use appears to be increasing significantly this year. The users of the Stunt Ranch Reserve includes research staff, faculty, and students from academic disciplines in the biological, social, physical sciences and engineering on the UCLA campus and from many other universities, both local and worldwide. In this current academic year, the Reserve was one of several key sites for the newly developed General Education Course through the UCLA Institute of the Environment. The Reserve is also serving as a resource in support of K-12 environmental educational programs throughout the greater Los Angeles area. Thousands of K-12 students now visit Stunt Ranch annually as part of the formal award winning curriculum coordinated by the Cold Creek Docents, a division of the Mountains Restoration Trust. Research on-site at the Reserve and in the surrounding Cold Creek watershed in the past two years included work by:
Use by instructional groups in the past two years included:
Affiliations of the Reserve users and visitors over the past two years include:
Current use includes:
Instructional use and applications for '97-98 to date include:
Our vision for the future is a bright one. The Reserve access road has been newly resurfaced, with new drainage culverts installed - just in time for the winter rains; we have received an engineering proposal for the revamping of the water system; and are meeting prospective architects for the design of the re-construction of facilities that were destroyed in the 1993 Malibu Firestorm. The Reserve has and will continue to make a concerted effort at establishing relationships on campus, at other universities, and in the community at large for the purpose of encouraging, supporting, and facilitating interdisciplinary environmental research and education. The reserve continues to act as liaison between the various environmental centers at UCLA including the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden and Ocean Discovery Center. In addition it hopes to encourage on-going site use for the IoE General Education Course. Phil Rundel will continue to represent UCLA on the UC Natural Reserve System Advisory Committee in 1998; Carol Felixson will be sitting on the committee for the first time as an alternate representative of the Reserve Managers/Directors systemwide. The Reserve plans to be a participant, along with more than 100 environmental agencies and non-profit organizations in the April, 1998 "Hands Across the Parklands" celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. An exciting goal for the future is an expanded Reserve webpage; we are exploring avenues to obtain the necessary funding for its design and production. To be kept abreast of the activities and research at the Stunt Ranch Reserve and other reserves in the UC Natural Reserve System, call 510-987-0150 to be placed, free of charge, on the mailing list for the Transect. Both Phil Rundel, Reserve Faculty Director, and Carol Felixson, Director of Education and Community Outreach, welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions as to how the Reserve might best serve your needs. For more information or to schedule a tour of the UCLA Stunt Ranch Reserve, call Carol Felixson at 310-206-3887.
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