To see the greatness of a mountain, one must keep one’s distance; to understand its form, one must move around it; to experience its moods, one must see it at sunrise and sunset, at noon and at midnight, in sun and in rain, in snow and in storm, in summer and in winter, and in all the other seasons. He who can see the mountain like this comes near to the life of the mountain.
- Lama Govinda

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Dedication

Personal note/narrative report

Use by instructional groups

Current research

Use data and user’s affiliations

Research reports

Publications

Personnel

 Map of K-12 use from 1995-2001

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Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve
University of California
Los Angeles

Annual Report
2000 - 2001

 

Cover illustration:
Psaltriparus minimus on Quercus agrifolia, bushtit on California live oak – By Lisa Pompelli

Bushtit: 4” (10cm). Very small, plain birds that move from bush to tree in straggling flocks, conversing in light gentle notes. Nondescript, gray backs, pale underparts, brownish cheeks, stubby bills, and longish tails. Voice = insistent light tsit’s, lisp’s, and clenk’s.
 

UCLA Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve
University of California, Los Angeles
Phone:   (310) 206-3887;  Fax: (310) 825-9433
Email:     cfelixso@ucla.edu; Web Site: http://nrs.ucop.edu/Reserves/stunt/html

DEDICATED To
Elizabeth [Betty] R. Hall *
 * Elizabeth R. Hall, better known as Betty, was a neighbor and close friend of Ethel Stunt from 1958 until Ethel died in 1970. Ethel was the matriarch of the Stunt family who homesteaded the property in the late 1880s and was the last surviving Stunt family member. Betty and Ethel were both well read and spoke often together about literature and religion. As no Stunt family members were present when Ethel died, Betty collected Ethel’s life's treasures, kept them safe, and later took them with her to Montana when she and her husband moved there in 1978. Betty’s son Ed said that his mother, “kept most [of Ethel’s treasures] so that we could return them to you. [i.e. the Stunt Ranch Reserve].” The Reserve is indebted to Betty Hall for saving Ethel’s treasures and sharing them with us, and looks forward to sharing them with all those who will visit Stunt Ranch in future years.
 

Narrative Summary 

The majority of visitors who come to the UCLA Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve are specifically there for purposes of environmental research and instruction. However, they are also inevitably exposed to the cycles of nature and to the power and gentleness that is a hallmark of the Cold Creek watershed in which the reserve is located. Much of the flora and fauna, geologic features, or archeological artifacts, are easily observed, yet more than meets the eye is hidden and requires time as well as persistence and determination for people to discover and record them, to study and theorize, and then to impart the findings to varied audiences.

A major focus of the Stunt Ranch Reserve is the rebuilding of the structures destroyed by fire in 1993. The proposed education/nature center will enhance our educational programs by providing museum and study/research areas for the use of students, environmentalists and the community. The educational center at Stunt Ranch will help develop the reserve into a premier site for environmental, historical, and cultural education and research. The steps towards this goal have been and will continue to be many, often challenging and sometimes ponderous.

 The items below highlight just a few of these steps. In addition, much time and energy has gone into preparation of an environmental impact study that outlines the replacement of the facilities lost in the 1993 wildfire while carefully protecting the delicate environment of the land. The study describes the reconstruction of the education/nature center, and the on-site manager's residence. Preparation too, went towards the submission of a proposal to the California Department of Parks and Recreation for Proposition 12 funding to augment the funding already committed to rebuilding these structures.

 See project rendering under Miscellaneous.

ON-SITE RESERVE USE: The Stunt Ranch Reserve determines use on the basis of visitor days. During 2000-2001, the reserve had approximately 3,500 users for a total of 4,500 user days. These user numbers are broken down by university-level use from UCLA, other UC campuses, the California State University system, and others within/outside California. In addition to university use, the reserve hosted environmental education programs for K-12 coordinated by the Cold Creek Docents, and varied public outreach programs.

See Use data and user’s affiliations.

RESERVE INSTRUCTION: The following university-level courses used the Stunt Ranch Reserve:
 

See Use data and user’s affiliations and Use by instructional groups.


RESERVE RESEARCH PROJECTS:
 

See Use data and user’s affiliations, and Current research.


K-12 ACTIVITIES: Through a cooperative relationship with the award-winning Cold Creek Docents and their K-12 programs, existing instructional activities bring thousands of K-12 students annually to the Stunt Ranch Reserve. Here, they experience and learn about the natural and cultural history of the Santa Monica Mountains and the unique Mediterranean-climate ecosystem of this region. More than 150 different schools, including a large proportion of inner city schools, have brought K-12 student groups to the Stunt Ranch Reserve over the past five years School programs focus upon natural habitats of the area with emphasis on chaparral and fire ecology, geology, the culture of the Chumash Indians, and the history of the American homesteaders in the Santa Monica Mountains. For many students from inner city areas, the Stunt Ranch Reserve serves as a first, and sometimes only, exposure to the natural environments of Southern California.

See Use data and user’s affiliations, and map of K-12 school visits: 1995-2001 under Miscellaneous.


ON-SITE COMMUNITY OUTREACH ACTIVIES:

See Use data and user’s affiliations.

OFF-SITE COMMUNITY OUTREACH ACTIVITES: The Stunt Ranch Reserve’s community outreach activities are not limited to those held at the reserve itself. Reserve staff, instructors and researchers while informally visiting with colleagues and friends, naturally share their involvement at the reserve and encourage others use of the reserve, and awareness and adoption of guidelines to living an ecologically responsible life.

On a more formal basis, the reserve participated in the UCLA Alumni Association’s annual Dinner for 12 Strangers. An evening attended by a mixed group of UCLA staff, faculty, and students held in the home of a member of the Alumni Association. This was a wonderful opportunity for dialog between the different populations that make up the UCLA family.

On an expanded basis, the UCLA Alumni Association hosted a Bruin Networking Night where larger numbers of alumni, students, and staff interacted. The reserve shared a booth there with docents from the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden.

Participating in the annual UCLA Biology Department Research Symposium, the reserve featured posters and printed material of the research and instructional programs.

The reserve was represented in the UCLA in LA community outreach booth at the annual Los Angeles Times - UCLA Festival of Books, which was attended by tens of thousands of visitors. This event provided a fun and effective venue for publicizing the K-12 environmental program at Stunt Ranch.

Important as it is to network outside the UCLA community, it is equally important to network within the UCLA community. As such, the reserve attended the UCLA in LA Community Outreach Breakfast to introduce its mission and programs to other UCLA outreach units on campus and throughout the community.

COLLECTION OF ETHEL STUNT ARTIFACTS: The reserve once again was the fortunate recipient of treasured items from the life of Stunt Ranch matriarch Ethel Stunt (see article, A Pioneer Woman Reaches Out From The Past in the Clippings section of this annual report). These will be part of a featured display on the homestead period in the Stunt Ranch Reserve education/nature center.

This year, the reserve received the following items:

UC NATURAL RESERVE SYSTEM GRANT: For the past several years, brush at the reserve was cleared, invasive species removed, and trails were maintained by students from both the Outward Bound and UCLA Eco-Heroes programs under the leadership of the Cold Creek Docents. To accomplish these tasks, tools were borrowed from the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Association. Happily, this year the reserve was awarded a grant from the UC Natural Reserve System that enabled the purchase of its own set of tools. The reserve welcomes assistance in these valuable and necessary projects. This can be a strong win/win experience for high school community service students and other youth and adult service organizations, especially when coupled with environmental education activities.
 

NEW LIMITED EDITION STUNT RANCH RESERVE T-SHIRT: The second in a series of “collectors item” shirts, the new Stunt Ranch Reserve T-shirt displays some of the variety of plants and animals typically found at the reserve, such as: an acorn, California live oak, California poppy, mariposa lily, California quail, and the California sister butterfly. The shirt was designed and illustrated by Lisa Pompelli, the reserve’s design consultant.

See T-shirt design under Miscellaneous.


NEWS CLIPPINGS: In addition to research papers published in Oecologia, Ecography, Ecological Research, Conservation Biology, and the Journal of Mediterranean Ecology, news and feature articles about the reserve or written by the reserve staff were published in the publications listed below. See research paper listings in publication section of this report.
 

See research papers under Publications, and clippings under Miscellaneous


For more information on the UCLA Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve, visit http://nrs.ucop.edu/Reserves/stunt.html or call 310 206-3887. Your input is most welcome.
 

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2000-2001 University-level Instruction

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RESERVE USE DATA 2000 - 2001

UCLA
University-Level Research: users 24; user days 304
Faculty: users 1; user days 40
Research Scientist: user 1; user days 20
Research Assistant: user 2; user days 24
Graduate Student: users 6 ; user days 80
Undergraduates: users 14; user days 140

University –Level Instruction: users 261; user days 591
Instructors: users 21; user days 52
Students: users 240; user days 539

Public Service: users 250; user days 250
Others: users 250; user days 250


CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
University-Level Instruction: users 29; user days 29
Instructors: users 4; user days 4
Students: users 25; user days 25

K-12
Users 2,868; user days 3,113
Students: users 2853; user days 2853
Instructors (docents): users 15; user days 260

OTHER
Public Outreach: users 20; user days 20
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TOTAL: users 3,452; user days 4,307

 

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2000-2001 Research Reports

Long term study of gas exchange and water relations of a chaparral plant community

Rasoul Sharifi and P.W. Rundel
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Los Angeles

During 2001 we focused our study on the physiological and biochemical responses of our study species (Quercus dumosa, Heteromeles arbutifolia, and Arctostaphylos glandulosa) to increasing ambient CO2 and PFD. We used a portable gas exchange system (LI6400, LI-COR Inc., Lincoln, Nebraska) which has the capability to maintain steady-state conditions with respect to temperature, CO₂, and water vapor concentrations within the assimilation chamber.  Detailed determinations of light and CO₂ response curves under  constant controlled temperature and leaf-to-air vapor pressure deficit (VPD) were performed.  CO₂ and light response curves were analyzed for all study species using a mechanistic model in Photosyn Assistant (Dundee Scientific, Dundee, UK).

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Bush poppy demography and productivity

Rasoul Sharifi and P.W. Rundel
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Los Angeles

Phil Rundel and Rasoul Sharifi are in the seventh year of a study investigating post-fire patterns of demography and productivity in Dendromecon rigida, the bush poppy, which became established in dense stands on north-facing slopes of the Santa Monica Mountains following wildfires in 1993.

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Post fire successional dynamics

P.W. Rundel
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Los Angeles

Qinfeng Guo
United States Geological Survey
Tucson, Arizona

Phil Rundel and Qinfeng Guo are continuing a long-term monitoring project of permanent plots established at Stunt Ranch after the 1993 wildfire

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Reproductive flexibility in the paper wasp Polistes aurifer

Aviva Liebert (Advisor, Peter Nonacs)
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Los Angeles

The most exciting finding from this year's study is the discovery of natural nests of P. aurifer at Stunt Ranch. By following individual foraging females, I was able to locate 25 nests that were hanging from fallen plant stems or hard packed soil into small holes or cracks in the ground. These "ground nests" were very densely aggregated, with some nests less than 60cm apart. The nests were nearly impossible to locate without first seeing a wasp fly in or out of the surrounding vegetation. Of the 25 nests, 9 were apparently solitarily founded; this percentage is slightly lower than in the nest boxes, however it is not clear whether all the other nests contained multifoundress groups or were more mature nests with a foundress plus her daughters. I plan to look for these ground nesting females early in the founding stage next season to learn more about them and compare their characteristics to nests initiated in nest boxes.

Poster presentation July 15-19, 2001 at the Animal Behavior Society annual meeting in Corvallis, Oregon. Poster title: Behavioral flexibility of female offspring in the wasp Polistes aurifer

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The function of within-song type variation in the Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata). Sp

 Jeffrey Thomas (Advisor, Peter Nonacs)
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Los Angeles

 My research project involves the recording of marked wrentits, to address individual variation and population-level questions on the communication system of this songbird.

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unctional type classification of Southern California Vegetation using spectral Reflectance; Linking biodiversity and spectral reflectance in Southern California vegetation.

Brian Zutta and John Gamon
Center for Environmental Analysis & Department of Biology and Microbiology (CEA-CREST)
California State University, Los Angeles

My initial thesis first involved four 100m transects in the Stunt Ranch watershed Title: Functional type classification of Southern California Vegetation using spectral

reflectance. The study was conducted from Dec. 1999 to Sept 2000 involving the use of remote sensing (spectral reflectance), at the canopy level, to distinguish between plant functional types such as annual, evergreen, winter, and drought deciduous. The results indicated that classification at this level was at least 85% successful in the spring season.

The analysis also indicated that remote sensing (spectral reflectance) was sensitive enough to distinguish between species, which led to an additional study. Title: Linking biodiversity and spectral reflectance in Southern California vegetation. This portion was conducted on 2 transects in Stunt Ranch itself, and 6 transects in the watershed in Spring 2001. A positive correlation was found between the increase in the standard deviation of spectral information and the increase in dominant species. The results were presented in an oral session of the 2001 ESA meeting in Madison, Wisconsin.

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Environmental monitoring and bioassessment of Ventura and Los Angeles County watersheds

 Richard F. Ambrose
Environmental Science and Engineering Program
University of California, Los Angeles

We continued to sample in Malibu Creek watershed this year. We sampled upstream of Stunt Ranch in the Cold Creek preserve; that served as one of our reference sites for a study we are doing for the Regional Water Quality Control Board. The purpose of that project is to look at the relationship between nutrient inputs into streams and the health of the stream. We are trying to help the Regional Board establish nutrient TMDLs (total maximum daily loads, a regulatory limit) for several local watersheds, including Malibu.

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2000-2001 Publications

News item: Phil Rundel together with Robert Gustafson of the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History have a contract with the University of California Press to write a new book, "Introduction to the Plants of Southern California.
This book will discuss the ecology, diversity and conservation of the Southern California flora and will include approximately 250 high quality color photographs.
 

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Personnel Updates

PHILIP W. RUNDEL

Reserve Faculty Director: Philip Rundel is a professor in the Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, at UCLA. He is a former UCLA representative to the UC Natural Reserve System Advisory Committee. This past year in addition to his teaching, research, and work for Stunt Ranch and UCLA, Rundel traveled extensively outside the U.S. He conducted research in the Elephant Mountains of S.E. Cambodia with UCLA Research Scientist, Dr. Rasoul Sharifi. In addition, Rundel taught a field tropical ecology course with UCLA Professor Peter Narins. The course involved 15 UCLA students and 11 Thai students from Ramkhamhaeng and Mahidol Universities in Bangkok. He presented a paper entitled, Ecosystem processes and dynamics in the urban/wildland interface of Southern California, at the International MEDECOS Conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa. And finally Dr. Rundel conducted fieldwork in Costa Rica with Sharifi on the ecophysiology and demography of understory herbs in the tropical rainforest.

CAROL FELIXSON

Reserve Director of Education and Community Outreach: In addition to her work for the Stunt Ranch Reserve, Carol Felixson also serves as the docent and communications coordinator for the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden (MEMBG) at UCLA. Felixson had news articles and features published in the Los Angeles Times, UCLA Today, and in the following newsletters: MEMBG, Metivta – a center for contemplative Judaism, and the Galim. She self-published Alef, Bet, and Blue 2001, a chapbook of essays and poetry. Felixson serves on the board of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life - Southern California Chapter, and on the Mishkon Tephilo social action committee.

RICHARD F. AMBROSE

UCLA Representative to the UC Natural Reserve System Advisory Committee: Richard F. Ambrose is a professor in the UCLA School of Public Health’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences and is Director of the Environmental Science and Engineering Program. Dr. Ambrose serves as an advisor to many agencies and groups concerned with coastal management and teaches applied ecology. His research focuses on local coastal environmental problems, including wetland restoration and ecology and impacts to aquatic habitats in southern California watersheds. He has just completed major studies in the Malibu Creek watershed, which includes Stunt Ranch, and the nearby Calleguas Creek watershed. He is currently studying impacts to streams in the Santa Clara River as well as Malibu and Calleguas Creeks.

LISA POMPELLI

Reserve Design Consultant: Lisa Pompelli is a commercial and scientific illustrator who has also designed educational posters and games for the Huntington Botanical Gardens educational program. She is serving the reserve as a consultant for the architecture and interior design of the education/nature center. In addition to designing the exhibits for the nature center, she has designed and illustrated a limited edition series of Stunt Ranch Reserve t-shirts and posters. Pompelli attended Art Center College of Design and graduated with a degree in Geography at UCLA in June, 2000.
 

UCLA RESERVE FACULTY ADVISORY COMMITTEE:
Richard F. Ambrose: Associate Professor in the UCLA School of Public Health’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences and Director of the Environmental Science and Engineering Program.

Jeanne Arnold: Professor of Anthropology and a new world archaeologist with a focus on California and the northern Pacific Coast. Dr. Arnold started an international collaboration archaeological research project in British Columbia/Washington and an ethnoarchaeological project on western Native American and modern Los Angeles household architecture, family interactions, and spatial dimensions of activity areas. Her new book, The Origins of a Pacific Coast Chiefdom: The Chumash of the Channel Islands was published in May by University of Utah Press.

Art Huffman: Senior Lecturer in Physics and Astronomy. He teaches physics and astronomy in regular session and in extension classes, develops labs and new classes, gives demonstration shows at schools, and runs observation astronomy trips to dark sky sites, including Stunt Ranch.

Martin Cody: Professor of Biology teaches a variety of classes in the Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology, and Evolution at UCLA, including a field lab in Ecology, Behavior & Evolution at the Stunt Ranch Reserve. In addition, Dr. Cody led field trips to the Mojave Desert and the Sierra, taught OBEE 124, led a field trip for three weeks to the Nicaraguan rainforest, and was in Australia on sabbatical from August to December.

Hartmut Walter: Professor of Geography. Dr. Walter traveled to South Africa to study the fynbos biome and habitat fragmentation on the Cape Peninsula. He also did some research on the impact of globalization on East African wildlife and people during the summer of 2001.

 

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