UC Nature serves the public in many ways. From elementary school field trips to courses on botanical illustration to scientific lecture series, reserves host a range of learning opportunities for the general public. As authorities on regional ecosystems, UC Nature staff inform and improve wildland planning and management efforts. By stewarding tens of thousands of acres of marine and terrestrial protected areas, reserves help ensure the continued health of state ecosystems. Finally, UC Nature influences conservation and land management practices well beyond state borders by participating in a broad array of international biodiversity and training programs.
Biosphere reserves
Five UC Nature reserves are designated as part of the United Nations Man and the Biosphere Programme.
Climate leadership
UC Nature helps California achieve fulfill its 30×30 conservation framework by helping to lead the California Biodiversity Network. Climate and biodiversity monitoring stations at UC Nature reserves are the backbone of the Sentinel Sites for Nature—California network tracking the pace of environmental change across California.
UC Environmental Stewards program
Multiple reserves host or serve as field trip locations for the UC Environmental Stewards program, which provides college-level certifications for adults who often go on to serve as volunteers or docents supporting the education programs, citizen science projects, and outreach events of reserves and other conservation organizations.
Citizen science
Many hands are better than one. Citizen science projects at reserves enlist the help of volunteers to gather research data and advance our understanding of nature.
Community leadership
As repositories of ecological scholarship, reserves often provide scientific expertise and guidance for community initiatives ranging from fuels reduction management in forests to habitat conservation plans.
K-12 environmental education
Thousands of California schoolchildren take field trips to UC Nature reserves every year to experience and learn about the environment.
Mediterranean-climate ecosystems
We connect experts, land managers, and policymakers from around the world to improve biodiversity protection in California and other Mediterranean-climate ecosystems.
Public access and events
Several UC Nature reserves are wholly or partly open to the public for recreation. Other reserves welcome the public to lectures, hikes, open houses, and other community events.
Trustee agency
The University is a Trustee Agency with regard to sites within UC Nature (California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines, Section 15386 (d)). As one of only four designated Trustee Agencies, the University has a duty to steward reserves to preserve their long-term integrity on behalf of the people of California. (14 CCR 15386).
HOST: Classrooms without walls
The UC Nature HOST (Hands On for School Teachers) Program improved ecological education for hundreds of students from underprivileged high schools by training teachers in the field at UC Nature reserves. Curricula developed for the program are provided here as a resource.