This document is separated into narrative sections for SNARL and Valentine Camp.

SIERRA NEVADA AQUATIC RESEARCH LABORATORY (SNARL)

RESEARCH:

SNARL remains the center of eastern Sierra Nevada research. Fifty-two research projects used the facilities and protected lands to support their work. Thirty-five institutions and agencies were represented including eight campuses of the University of California and eleven institutions from out of state. Researchers using SNARL for all or a part of their research published twenty-eight research papers in refereed journals this year. Demand for housing and laboratory space remains high with facilities near capacity from April through September. One hundred eighty-six individual researchers used SNARL for a total of 4709 research user-days.

Dr. Jill Mateo (University of Chicago) returned to SNARL for the fifteenth year in a row to continue her work on learning and behavior in a social animal, Beldings Ground Squirrel.

For the first time VESR was able to offer a graduate student grant competition with the support of the Valentine Reserve Fund. Eleven proposals were received and six awards were made for a total of $8700 to:

INSTRUCTION:

Thirteen college and university classes used the Reserve for a total eighty-five days this year. This included twenty-one faculty, one hundred twenty-two students for a total of five hundred and six user-days. Once again a large group from Indiana University traveled to the eastern Sierra Nevada for an eleven-day geology course. “Acquisition and Analysis of Environmental Data” (UCR) was taught in its entirety over a twenty-day period in September. UCSB Geology Field Camp returned to SNARL for the first time in many years. In addition, incoming UC Davis ecology graduate students visited SNARL as part of their annual “Odyssey” to field sites of California.

PUBLIC SERVICE:

The Spring SNARL lecture series, held at the Green Church, kicked off with the Second Annual Reserve Lecture in Conservation and Ecology by Dr. Charles Goldman. The series, which actually carried over into FY 05-06 this year, had approximately 320 people attending the talks. This year’s speakers and topics were:

The Second Annual Reserve Lecture in Conservation & Ecology - Sponsored by the Valentine Reserve Fund

May 12 - Forty Years of Research & Conservation at Lake Tahoe - Dr. Charles Goldman, Distinguished Professor of Limnology & Director, Tahoe Research Group, UC Davis

May 26 - Pesticide Drift and the Decline of Amphibians in the Sierra Nevada - Dr. Roland Knapp, Aquatic Ecologist, UC Santa Barbara

June 9 - “In the Shadow of White Mountain” Documentary Movie - Dr. John Smiley, Associate Director, White Mountain Research Station, UC San Diego

June 23 - Genetics and Conservation of Tui Chubs in the Owens River Basin - Yongjiu Chen, Genomic Variation Laboratory, UC Davis and Steve Parmenter, California Department of Fish and Game

July 7 - Environmental Research at UC Merced: The Sierra Nevada Research Institute (SNRI) - Dr. Samuel Traina, Director of SNRI and Professor of Natural Sciences, UC Merced

July 21 - Adaptation and Acclimatization to Altitude in Humans: What Animal Studies Tell Us - Dr. Frank Powell, Director, White Mountain Research Station, UC San Diego

The VESR Outdoor Science Education Program is the primary UC public service element in the eastern Sierra Nevada. Forty-seven classes from eight different schools in six different districts visited SNARL for lessons reaching approximately 1035 students. Another two hundred and twenty adults were exposed to the Reserve and its programs accompanying the students. Graduate student Kristie Reddick was hired as an additional instructor for part of the year. As part of Earth Week, Kristie visited twenty local classrooms with her tarantula and millipede to give lessons on insects and biodiversity. Instructor Sherry Taylor worked in the Mammoth Elementary fourth grade as part of our continuing Native Plant Project. One of the OSEP summer courses was taught at SNARL with the remainder at Valentine Camp.         

STEWARDSHIP:

Each season Reserve staff conducts a number of maintenance, construction and stewardship projects. With the assistance of an inmate crew, all of the brush from around and between the experimental stream channels was chopped out and piled. The brush was later burned over three days by Dawson and Gary Lewis. The spread of Russian Thistle at SNARL is an on-going problem and staff time was devoted to both spraying and burning it this season.

A new emergency fire pump was installed at SNARL in cooperation with the Long Valley Fire Department. A full emergency fire simulation (complete with fake smoke) was conducted with the volunteers late at night in September

The expanded recycling program at the Reserve has proved very successful. We have been able to cut our dumpster volume, and deliveries to the landfill in half, thus saving money as well as resources.

In spring, 2005 the perimeter fence required substantial repair due to the heavy winter. A major project was the complete renovation of residence Q2, which was out of service for the summer of 2004. Staff prepared six of the major SNARL buildings for painting as well.

Very high runoff, associated with the heavy snowpack had led to some limited flooding with no damage at the Reserve but created an opportunity to flush out all the stream channels at SNARL. Reserve staff spent substantial time cutting brush and mobilizing rooted vegetation such as Elodea.

Improvements were made to the SNARL local area network (LAN) that resulted in both better wireless access for users and improved security. Valentine Reserve Fund donations were used to buy a new router, and wireless bridges/access points.

ADMINISTRATION:

Reserve Steward Gary Lewis, who was hired in a seasonal position following the resignation of Scott Roripaugh, was hired into the career Steward position. Cabot Thomas, Brian Macklin, and Richard Anderson were hired May 1 as seasonal Reserve Stewards. Unfortunately Anderson left at the end of May due to a death in the family. All three, plus Lewis underwent a considerable safety training series that included such things as scaffold safety, chain saw safety, and lower back injury training.

Dawson has started an update of the SNARL Management Plan, adopted in 1993. The plan will have a broader scope and more detail than the original plan. As part of the process a brief questionnaire was sent to 135 recent (last four years) users. The questions focused on respondent’s vision for SNARL and priorities for improvements. Forty (30%) questionnaires were returned. Dawson and Sue Swarbrick analyzed the responses to the questionnaire. The responses support the development of additional facilities at SNARL including a classroom/lecture hall, a teaching lab, a user lounge, and additional small, private researcher residences. Dawson and Swarbrick submitted a planning grant to the NSF Field Station and Marine Lab facilities program. The grants requests $25K to do site planning and utilities engineering for additional facilities at SNARL.

Development activities at the Reserve have taken another step forward. With the leadership of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area CEO and Yosemite Fund board member Rusty Gregory we have formed “The Valentine Reserve Fund”. Working with Cathleen Candy and directly with UCSB Development Director Gary Grienke, Dawson put together the required support documents to create this donor group. The Fund was launched September 26, 2004 with the formation of the “Council of Directors”, twenty couples or individuals committing to annual donations to the Fund. The recurring funds will be used to support graduate student research grants, computer and related hardware purchases, community outreach programs, and minor facility improvements. We are currently establishing priority needs and developing major gift prospects. A new Reserve brochure has been developed, completely by volunteers. The Fund had a successful winter event, which included an evening snowcat ride on Mammoth Mountain to the mid-Chalet for dinner followed by a snowshoe tour at Valcamp the following day. Thirty-three adults and fifteen children participated. The Fund has provided over $50,000 this fiscal year for Reserve operation including the grad student grants, technology improvements, and remodel of residence Q2. We have designated funds for the replacement of the upper Mammoth Creek bridge at Valcamp. The Fund Executive Committee has formulated a vision statement and is planning its first capital campaign. Some of the new SNARL facilities identified above will likely be the target project.

Dawson, along with Gary Lewis, Scott Christensen, and Administrative Assistant Kim Rose traveled to the annual NRS Management Workshop at the McLaughlin Reserve. This was Lewis’ and Rose’s first exposure to the NRS. VESR will host the 2005 Management Workshop October 4-7, 2005.

With the NRS now part of Academic Affairs, Dawson arranged a visit to both VESR sites by Lawrence Coleman, UC Vice Provost for Research, and his staff. Coleman was very positive about the NRS and VESR specifically.

Dawson traveled to Washington D.C. with his family in April and took the time to visit with staff of Congressman Buck McKeon, who represents Mammoth and parts of Mono County, as well as Santa Clarita. In July, the Congressman visited Mammoth and Dawson joined him for a round of golf. Though he was not able to visit the Reserve he expressed his support for the work we doing.

The Granite Mountains Reserve celebrated their 25^th Anniversary, which included a gathering at the Reserve to honor UCSB faculty member Bob Norris, a founder of the NRS and the Granite Mountains Reserve. Dan Dawson traveled to the Granites representing UCSB and read a letter to Dr. Norris from Chancellor Yang.

In June, Dawson traveled to Silverton, Colorado at the invitation of the Mountain Studies Institute to participate in a planning workshop for the Institute. Dawson continues to work on the NRS Data Management Committee and will be the Reserve Directors representative to the NRS Systemwide Advisory Committee for three years starting in 2005.

VALENTINE CAMP

RESEARCH

Five research projects used Valentine Camp this year. UCSC graduate student Aaron Gabbe continued his work on the effects of nectar quality on hummingbird foraging behavior. Professor Michael Loik (UCSC) used Valentine as the base for his high school Earthwatch supported project on global climate change. Due to excessive snow, the Reserve is closed from November-May.

INSTRUCTION:

With a short season and limited housing Valentine Camp is generally not an overnight host for university level courses. Typically, courses staying at SNARL use Valentine for part of their teaching activities. For the third time, the Mulago Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to sustainable development, conservation, and health care in the third world, used the Reserve. They brought in their Rainer Arnhold Fellows from around the world for a two-week assessment and training session.

PUBLIC SERVICE:

The VESR Outdoor Science Education Program is active at Valentine Camp with approximately six hundred forty Inyo and Mono County elementary school students from six different schools visiting on field trips this year. Graduate student Kristie Reddick was hired as an additional instructor for part of the year. As part of Earth Week, Kristie visited twenty local classrooms with her tarantula and millipede to give lessons on insects and biodiversity. Instructor Sherry Taylor worked in the Mammoth Elementary fourth grade as part of our continuing Native Plant Project. In addition, 100 students attended two-week summer courses at Valentine. The 2004 classes, spread over three sessions were:

Introduction to Ornithology and Ichthyology - Grades 5, 6 - Troy Kelly, wildlife biologist and Debra Hawk, fisheries biologist, CA DFG

Science through Art  - Grades 4, 5 - Janis Richardson, teacher, Mammoth Elem. School

Trees are Terrific - Grades 2, 3 - Jessica Sharkey, teacher, Victorville School district

Beautiful Bats - Grades 1, 2 - Jessica Sharkey, teacher, Victorville

GEMS:  Buzzing a Hive - Grades 1, 2 - Nicki Westbrook, teacher, Round Valley Elem. School

Habitats and Insects - Grades 2, 3 - Sherry Taylor, Valentine staff teacher

World of Water - Grades 4, 5 - Barbara Schuck third grade teacher, Pine Street School

A Bug’s Life - Grades 2, 3 - Debra Hawk, fisheries biologist, CA DFG

Native Plant Project - Grades 4, 5 - Sherry Taylor, Valentine staff teacher

Wildlife Investigations - Grades 5, 6, 7 - Troy Kelly, Wildlife Biologist and Valentine staff teacher

Each class also has a volunteer teacher's aide resulting in a student/adult ratio of 5/1. These volunteers or docents have been trained by Leslie Dawson and also assist with the school field trips.

As part of our Community Outreach Program, VESR Education Coordinator Leslie Dawson offered several thematic tours of the Reserve. These tours now take the place of our annual open house. The tours are advertised via local media and an email list and were all fully subscribed. Examples include: wildflowers, forest ecology and history. Adult outreach also featured a geology car tour by Dr. Steve Lipshie. A total of twenty people joined Dr. Lipshie in this tour of the Long Valley caldera.

Reserve Director Dan Dawson participated in a number of public service activities during this quarter. All stakeholders on the Mammoth Creek/Hot Creek system are engaging, under the auspices of the State Water Resources Control Board, in a collaborative process to identify potential impacts to the stream system. Stakeholders include the CA Dept. of Fish and Game, Caltrout, the Mammoth Community Water District (MCWD), LADWP, and others. Dawson is also working with the Mammoth Community Water District as part of another team developing a groundwater management plan for that agency. Further, Dawson is the leader of a Task Force working with MCWD to finalize plans for use of reclaimed water in Mammoth. Finally, Dawson is working with the Town of Mammoth Lakes on the update of their General Plan.

STEWARDSHIP:

Stewardship activity is dominated by the implementation of the forest management plan at Valentine. In preparation for the summer 2004, Dawson negotiated with the CA Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection for the return of inmate labor crews that were pulled off the project last summer. Two forest laborers were hired off Dawson’s USDA grant and he led a crew of five staff and seventeen inmate laborers for five weeks at Valentine. Significant progress was made on the project this year and approximately 800 logs and 40+ cords of fuel wood were sold locally. Following the early winter snows (Mammoth Mountain Ski Area opened on October 21, 2004) dry slash was burned over a three-day period.

In early Spring 2005 an underground power line failed resulting in two cabins without power. After that was repaired a substantial section of underground water line was replaced. With the melting of the snow we were able to gain access to the spring sources of our drinking water in an attempt to understand the erratic positive total coliform readings we have been getting from the potable water supply. Changes were made to the spring plumbing in an attempt to solve the problem. Additional water line replacement was completed. The wooden boundary fence at Valentine suffered substantial damage from the 600 inches (24 hr. cumulative measurement) of snowfall this winter. This required a major effort to repair and strengthen to prevent future damage. Plans are in progress to replace the upper bridge across Mammoth Creek within the Reserve with a 40” wide x 35’ long modular steel bridge.

ADMINISTRATION:

Valentine Camp Caretaker Scott Christensen indicated his intent to give up his position in late winter. Scott will be sorely missed. In consultation with Bill Murdoch, Sue Swarbrick, and John Melack, Dan Dawson offered the resident Valentine Caretaker position to long-time seasonal Reserve Steward Cabot Thomas. Cabot and his wife Kim Rose, who is an Administrative Assistant and Staff Research Associate at SNARL, will move into Valentine in November 2005 following a major remodel on the Caretaker Cabin. Reserve Steward Gary Lewis, who was hired in a seasonal position following the resignation of Scott Roripaugh, was hired into the career Steward position. Brian Macklin was hired May 1 2005 as a seasonal Reserve Steward. Kim Rose developed a suite of safety training materials using video, DVD, web-based training, and print materials. All maintenance workers reviewed the materials and training was carefully documented.

Development activities at the Reserve have taken another step forward. With the leadership of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area CEO and Yosemite Fund board member Rusty Gregory we have formed “The Valentine Reserve Fund”. Working with Cathleen Candy and directly with UCSB Development Director Gary Grienke, Dawson put together the required support documents to create this donor group. The Fund was launched September 26, 2004 with the formation of the “Council of Directors”, twenty couples or individuals committing to annual donations to the Fund. The recurring funds will be used to support graduate student research grants, computer and related hardware purchases, community outreach programs, and minor facility improvements. We are currently establishing priority needs and developing major gift prospects. A new Reserve brochure has been developed, completely by volunteers. The Fund had a successful winter event, which included an evening snowcat ride on Mammoth Mountain to the mid-Chalet for dinner followed by a snowshoe tour at Valcamp the following day. Thirty-three adults and fifteen children participated. The Fund has provided over $50,000 this fiscal year for Reserve operation including the grad student grants, technology improvements, and remodel of residence Q2. We have designated funds for the replacement of the upper Mammoth Creek bridge at Valcamp. The Fund Executive Committee has formulated a vision statement and is planning its first capital campaign. Some of the new SNARL facilities identified above will likely be the target project.

Dawson, along with Gary Lewis, Scott Christensen, and Administrative Assistant Kim Rose traveled to the annual NRS Management Workshop at the McLaughlin Reserve. This was Lewis’ and Rose’s first exposure to the NRS. VESR will host the 2005 Management Workshop October 4-7, 2005.

With the NRS now part of Academic Affairs, Dawson arranged a visit to both VESR sites by Lawrence Coleman, UC Vice Provost for Research, and his staff. Coleman was very positive about the NRS and VESR specifically.

Dawson traveled to Washington D.C. with his family in April and took the time to visit with staff of Congressman Buck McKeon, who represents Mammoth and parts of Mono County, as well as Santa Clarita. In July, the Congressman visited Mammoth and Dawson joined him for a round of golf. Though he was not able to visit the Reserve he expressed his support for the work we doing.

The Granite Mountains Reserve celebrated their 25^th Anniversary, which included a gathering at the Reserve to honor UCSB faculty member Bob Norris, a founder of the NRS and the Granite Mountains Reserve. Dan Dawson traveled to the Granites representing UCSB and read a letter to Dr. Norris from Chancellor Yang.

In June, Dawson traveled to Silverton, Colorado at the invitation of the Mountain Studies Institute to participate in a planning workshop for the Institute. Dawson continues to work on the NRS Data Management Committee and will be the Reserve Directors representative to the NRS Systemwide Advisory Committee for three years starting in 2005.

Page last updated Thursday, May 21, 2009