Wild wild west

Wild wild west UCLA education and research extends beyond laboratories and onto the chapparal lands

By Carolina Reyes
Daily Bruin Contributor

A mosaic of chaparral, live-oak woodland, riparian and grassland surround Stunt Ranch – and a variety of animals such as raccoons, coyotes and bobcats form part of the wildlife there.

Photos by JANA SUMMERS
Jean Ridgeway teaches children about Chumash Indians at Stunt Ranch, a piece of land set aside for University of California field studies in Santa Monica Mountains.

Today, many UCLA faculty members and students use Stunt Ranch, named for the original owners of the land, to carry out their studies because of the diversity of plants and animals at the site.

In response to faculty and student need for nearby natural habitats to carry out field studies, the UC Regents

exchanged approximately 400 acres of land in the Santa Monica Mountains for a portion of the UCLA Stunt Ranch in 1984.

Here, UCLA students and researchers could have easy access to natural wilderness.

Stunt Ranch officially joined the UC Natural Reserve System in November 1995, and became the system's 32nd site.

"It is the only unit of this system managed by UCLA and is dedicated to academic research and environmental education in the greater Los Angeles area and beyond," states a 1996 letter written by Carol Felixson, reserve director of education and community outreach.

As part of the UC Natural Reserve System and UCLA, the Stunt Ranch Reserve is central to the university's teaching and research mission and to the state's environmental future, the letter continued.

Because of the need for natural landscapes among university faculty, the UC Regents established the Natural Land and Water Reserves System in January of 1965 designating seven University-owned sites as its first reserves.

Aviva Liebert, a fourth-year organismic, ecology and evolution graduate student, is currently doing studies on the reproductive behavior of two species of local paper wasps.

Photos by JANA SUMMER
Stunt Ranch docent Kathy Gillman (right)
and Diana Cerda look at sand paintings.

"It's worked out really well for me because I have been able to conduct this research without disruption, at a site not very far from the UCLA campus," she said.

Among the ongoing programs at the ranch is the Cold Creek Docents program, which attempts to educate primary and secondary school students on the area's natural and cultural features.

"Students hike, learn about plants and animals, and participate in Chumash games," said Felixson.

A number of college departments, ranging from astronomy and anthropology to geology and biology use Stunt Ranch as an outdoor laboratory for classes and field trips, according to the ranch Web site.

Martin Cody, a professor in the OBEE department, said students set up experiments early in the quarter at the ranch and revisit them later in his OBEE 136 class titled, "Lab in Ecology, Behavior & Evolution."

"It's very convenient to UCLA. The ranch has good oak woodland, and lots of chaparral, so there is some habitat variability," he said.

Researchers used the Malibu Creek watershed – streams and the areas that wash into them – at Stunt Ranch to uncover how humans have impacted Southern California's entire system of watersheds, according to Richard F. Ambrose, director and associate professor in the department of environmental health sciences.

"Stunt Ranch is important in that context because it represents one of the best, most pristine places left in the watershed," he said. "It's especially valuable because there's been so much development in Southern California that we sometimes have a hard time finding anywhere that hasn't been seriously impacted by human activities."

Other visitors to the ranch include groups from local organizations involved in resource management, archaeology and wildlife ecology, according to Felixson.

Before the Spanish colonists settled in the Topanga Canyon area in the late 1700s, the Chumash Indians inhabited the area encompassing Stunt Ranch.

Shortly after an arsonist set fire to Stunt Ranch in 1993, neighbors and researchers found signs of their existence in bedrock mortar sites that previously lay hidden by the dense brush of the chaparral, according to the ranch Web site.

"One of the things they did was to burn the under story of oak trees to make the acorns, a staple of their diet, larger and more plentiful the following year," Felixson said.

The Stunt brothers – Harry, Walter, and Ernest – and their cousin Sidney from England settled and farmed the land in the late 1800s, building a small cabin on the site around 1885. Their sister, Ethel, later joined them at the ranch in 1936. After the 1700s, European settlement of the Cold Creek watershed began with the arrival of the Stunt brothers.

The original oak at Stunt Ranch is named after Ethel Stunt. This majestic tree is said to be between 500 to 1,000 years old, and was central to many Chumash ceremonies, according to the ranch Web site.

Today, it serves as more than a religious object or a wonder of nature.

Illustration by GRACE HUANG/Daily Bruin

"The Ethel Stunt oak tree has served as creative inspiration to the poets, artists and photographers who have visited Stunt Ranch," Felixson said.

Each year, more than 4,000 guests visit the reserve to engage in teaching, research and public education activities, according to their site.

"Although, all of Stunt Ranch burned in 1993, it has since re-grown and the site provides excellent educational and research opportunities," Felixson said.


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