Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
New winter caretaker.
Every year we provide free housing to a winter caretaker to help us look after the place during our breaks [we can't leave during the summer].
This year, Sally White moved on to a teaching post in Budapest, so Sam Skrocke is taking her place. Sam is a powerful athlete who actually enjoys being snowed in 2-miles off the highway. He's working out great!
This year, Sally White moved on to a teaching post in Budapest, so Sam Skrocke is taking her place. Sam is a powerful athlete who actually enjoys being snowed in 2-miles off the highway. He's working out great!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
New roof for Leopold Cabin
The Leopold Cabin now has a new metal roof thanks to contractor Kevin Starr.Last winter, the old shingled roof held so much snow that the building almost collapsed. We finally managed to repair it this fall, using one-time emergency funds provided by the UCNRS. We barely beat the arrival of winter.
Turns out the structure was in far worse shape than we thought, with 7 additional broken rafters & a big saddle sag. Kevin had to completely replace the roof structure & winch the walls back to plumb.
Happily, the new roof is much burlier than the old one, & higher inside, giving the ARC program more room for their stuff.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
New Lahontan Cutthroat Trout for fish house channel.
The Forest Service office staff was so excited about Cujo living in the Sagehen fishhouse channel that they immediately started raising a friend for him. 'Zilla [short for Godzilla] joined Cujo in October. Hopefully she makes it through the winter. Keep your fingers crossed, & check the fish cam for her next spring!
Cows in basin.
Every few years a couple cows will escape from the October roundup north of Independence basin & end up at Sagehen. This year, the whole herd made it. Must have been around 60 of them.Fortunately, Jeff & I spotted them marching through camp & were able to herd them out the road & toward Independence. We called the cowboys, but they didn't show up & the next day the girls were back & more determined to stay. We finally managed to round up the sneaky ones, head them out & keep them from obliterating our meadow research plots.
DRI invests in basin instrumentation
Doug Boyle & Brad Lyles from DRI spent a lot of time & effort this fall working to upgrade the Sagehen basin sensing network.They added snow pillows to many of the towers, moved a couple of towers to more favorable locations, added soil chemistry & moisture sensors to many sites & finished installing the precipitation gauges at T-3 & T-4.
Jeff & Faerthen worked with them to make sure that our wireless backbone was able to move the new data, & the communications network has been very robust this season.
UCNRS has a new Director.
Dear NRS Community,
On behalf of the NRS Director Search Committee, I am very pleased to announce that Peggy L. Fiedler has been chosen to serve as systemwide Director of the University of California Natural Reserve System. Peggy earned her BA from Harvard University in 1976, then went on to receive an MS and a PhD from UC Berkeley in Wildland Resource Science, concentrating in the field of plant evolutionary biology. After completing her PhD, she joined the faculty at San Francisco State University where she was promoted to full Professor in 1997. While at SF State, she initiated the first Conservation Biology master’s degree program of its kind in the United States.
In 2000, Peggy left SF State in order to become more directly involved in hands-on conservation, working as an environmental consultant in rare plant protection and ecosystem restoration. In this capacity, she led or co-led multidisciplinary teams in the design, permitting, and implementation of restoration projects with budgets up to $3 million. She worked extensively with federal, state, and local governments, large corporations, architectural and law firms, non-profit organizations, and individual landowners.
Peggy’s research on California species of Calochortus (Liliaceae) and her writings on the more theoretical aspects of conservation biology have earned her an international reputation as an authority in conservation biology and rare-plant ecology and management. She has written two textbooks on conservation biology, held long-term editorial positions within two major professional conservation organizations (which publish Biological Conservation and Journal of Conservation Biology), and has a long publication list of refereed journal articles, reports, and book chapters on conservation issues. She currently serves as a Senior Research Associate with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England. Peggy is also a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences and a Fulbright Senior Scholar.
Peggy’s remarkable career achievements in both academia and the private sector make her an excellent fit for the position of Director of the Natural Reserve System. I’ve attached a copy of Vice President Beckwith’s official announcement letter to the Vice Chancellors of Research and Deans who oversee the NRS on each of the campuses. Effective January 1, 2010, you can reach Peggy at Peggy.Fiedler@ucop.edu. Please join me in offering Peggy a warm welcome to the NRS!
Sincerely,
Daniel P. Costa, Ph.D.
Chair, NRS Director Search Committee
Chair, Universitywide NRS Advisory Committee
Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
On behalf of the NRS Director Search Committee, I am very pleased to announce that Peggy L. Fiedler has been chosen to serve as systemwide Director of the University of California Natural Reserve System. Peggy earned her BA from Harvard University in 1976, then went on to receive an MS and a PhD from UC Berkeley in Wildland Resource Science, concentrating in the field of plant evolutionary biology. After completing her PhD, she joined the faculty at San Francisco State University where she was promoted to full Professor in 1997. While at SF State, she initiated the first Conservation Biology master’s degree program of its kind in the United States.
In 2000, Peggy left SF State in order to become more directly involved in hands-on conservation, working as an environmental consultant in rare plant protection and ecosystem restoration. In this capacity, she led or co-led multidisciplinary teams in the design, permitting, and implementation of restoration projects with budgets up to $3 million. She worked extensively with federal, state, and local governments, large corporations, architectural and law firms, non-profit organizations, and individual landowners.
Peggy’s research on California species of Calochortus (Liliaceae) and her writings on the more theoretical aspects of conservation biology have earned her an international reputation as an authority in conservation biology and rare-plant ecology and management. She has written two textbooks on conservation biology, held long-term editorial positions within two major professional conservation organizations (which publish Biological Conservation and Journal of Conservation Biology), and has a long publication list of refereed journal articles, reports, and book chapters on conservation issues. She currently serves as a Senior Research Associate with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England. Peggy is also a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences and a Fulbright Senior Scholar.
Peggy’s remarkable career achievements in both academia and the private sector make her an excellent fit for the position of Director of the Natural Reserve System. I’ve attached a copy of Vice President Beckwith’s official announcement letter to the Vice Chancellors of Research and Deans who oversee the NRS on each of the campuses. Effective January 1, 2010, you can reach Peggy at Peggy.Fiedler@ucop.edu. Please join me in offering Peggy a warm welcome to the NRS!
Sincerely,
Daniel P. Costa, Ph.D.
Chair, NRS Director Search Committee
Chair, Universitywide NRS Advisory Committee
Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
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