FSML: Research and Facilities Planning Workshops at the Angelo Coast Range Reserve, Mendocino, California, 2002-2003

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A grant has been awarded to Drs. Power and Luby at the University of California, Berkeley, to conduct two planning workshops at the University's Angelo Coast Range Reserve, located in Mendocino County, California. These workshops will supply the campus with expert assessments of the facilities at the reserve for conducting research in how ecosystems function, how habitats become degraded, and how best to conduct research within the framework of governmental rules and regulations that protects endangered species. These workshops will allow the campus to plan the future of the Reserve in a careful and informed manner, just as a new, $1.2 million "Center for Environmental Science" is built there, with support from the Goldman fund. In order to ensure the success of the reserve's research initiatives, experts in three specific research areas will be invited to Angelo to participate in the two different planning workshops. Experts will evaluate reserve facilities, and assess whether or not they are adequate to support research in river and watershed studies, tree canopy biology, and sediment/habitat degradation studies. Researchers for the UC Berkeley campus would also attend. Both groups would make presentations, examine the facilities, meet campus administrators, and participate in facilitated discussions. The central question asked of the group would be the following: "Given the current facilities, and the specific research directions that have been proposed, are the facilities at Angelo adequate, and if not, what do you recommend be done to improve them?" In the end, the visiting experts would submit a written report in which they offered an assessment of the adequacy of the facilities for implementing these research initiatives and recommendations for improvements. The Angelo Coast Range Reserve contains the largest tract of unlogged coastal conifer forest remaining in the state of California, as well as the entire watersheds of two salmon-bearing tributaries of a major river. As natural reserves become more and more isolated in the andscape, with pressure from development, they increasingly serve as "lifeboat" refuges for certain species. Understanding how ecosystems function, change, and become degraded is important for protecting and managing these species, as well as for species residing in more threatened settings outside the borders of reserves. Funding for the planning workshops will therefore support efforts to continue the global influence of scientific studies conducted at Angelo, and involve researchers, educators, and government representatives in efforts to investigate pressing environmental threats.