Hwy-89 Wildlife Undercrossing Dedication Ceremony

 The Highway-89 Stewardship Team assembled on the side of the road north of Sagehen yesterday to break ground on their latest research and mitigation project: a pair of fenced wildlife undercrossings north of Sagehen. Event photos here and here.

Watch a KTVN news segment here.
Read Sierra Sun article here.

The Team's previous undercrossing at Kyburz Flat has been a great success, providing research opportunities, public engagement, and helping mitigate our local portion of the $8-billion annual cost of animal-vehicle collisions.

KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe Sparks News, Weather, Video

Sagehen BioBlitz

Unusual bear cub release

In addition to the pair of cubs we reintroduced in January this year, two more cubs moved to Sagehen this week.

This time was a little unusual. Instead of placing drugged cubs into a hibernation den under the snow as we have in the past, we just opened the trailer and let them out. Watch the video to learn more about why.

Here are some photos of the release.

Bear cub reintroduction

Last week, California Fish and Wildlife reintroduced a pair of bear cubs into the wild here at Sagehen. KGO-TV covered the event. Here are the three segments aired about the wildlife rehabilitation process:


Story #1.



Story #2.



Story #3.

Jeff presents to OBFS

Last week, we attended the annual meeting of the Organization of Biological Field Stations held in Bodega Bay, CA where our A.R.C. Program received the Human Diversity award.

Here's a video of Jeff's presentation to the attendees on the topic of "Adapting to a Changing Mission". It explains the overarching philosophy of decision-making at Sagehen since our arrival 10 years ago.

"The Leopold Family Legacy at Sagehen Creek Field Station".

Sagehen recently began working with the Aldo Leopold Foundation to promote the Leopold legacy. This week, we are hosting a number of screenings of their new documentary, "Green Fire".

Why? What is the connection between Aldo Leopold and Sagehen Creek Field Station? Why is the Leopold legacy important?

We created this short documentary to explain.



Here's a passionate review of the video from Sagehen alum, Dwayne Spencer:

"This video captures so much of what's influenced my life it almost makes me cry. Aldo Leopold, father of Wildlife Biology and Wisconsin icon (if you have never read Sand County Almanac, rectify that); Starker Leopold, his son, who brought me to Berkeley to study martens at Sagehen Creek, Dale McCollough, who served on my thesis committee.... Nearly all the people in this video are close, personal friends: Roger Harris, Marty Raphael, Dan Airola, Pete Stine, Jeff Brown.... All the places are friends too: the "fish house," the meadows, Sagehen Creek, Independence Lake, Starkers "lean-to"....

You might all not relate, but if you are at all interested in biology, history, or family... this is good. I'm very proud and happy that my sons know most of these people and places too... They've even helped the famous fisheries biologist Peter Moyle with the long-term sampling of Sagehen Creek that is chronicled herein."

The Last Self-Reproducing Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in the Truckee River Basin

The Last Self-Reproducing Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in the Truckee River Basin from F. Felix on Vimeo.
August 20, 2009: For Sagehen Speaker Series #27, Gary Scoppetone of the USGS talks about the past, present & future LCT recovery program at Independence Lake.

More information about LCT research and outreach at Sagehen.

UCNRS Annual Meeting at Angelo Reserve

UCNRS Manager's Meeting, 2009 from F. Felix on Vimeo.
The crew gathers at Angelo Coast Range Reserve for the annual meeting. Here are some highlights, including Don's amazing abalone technique.

Sagehen Pine Martens

August 23, 2007: For Sagehen Summer Speaker Series #18, Dr. Bill Zielinsky of the US Forest Service PSW discusses past & upcoming American marten research in Sagehen basin. He also discusses how forest management practice influences marten habitat.

Past & future pine marten research at Sagehen from F. Felix on Vimeo.

Katie Moriarty talks weasels.

August 7, 2008: For Sagehen Speaker Series #22, researcher Katie Moriarty discusses her work on martens in the Sagehen basin. She also discusses other Sierran predators, including the big surprise that turned up on her camera trap on February 28, 2008.

Moriarty, K. M., American Marten Distributions over a 28 Year Period: Relationships with Landscape Change in Sagehen Creek Experimental Forest, California, USA. 2009, OSU. 108 pp. [PDF]

Moriarty, K.M., W. J. Zeilinski, A. G. Gonzales, T. E. Dawson, K. M. Boatner, C. A. Wilson, F. V. Schlexer, K. L. Pilgrim, J. P. Copeland, M. K. Schwartz, Wolverine Confirmation in California after Nearly a Century: Native or Long-Distance Immigrant?

More marten research at Sagehen.

Watch Pine Marten videos.

American Martens in Sagehen Basin. from F. Felix on Vimeo.

Bear cubs released.

February 3, 2010: CADF&G released two more orphaned cubs into the wild here at Sagehen. This makes #6 & #7 for us.

More information.

Bear cubs reintroduced to the wild. from F. Felix on Vimeo.

Sustainable management of fire-dependent forests. from F. Felix on Vimeo.

8-13-09: For Sagehen Speaker Series no. 26, Dr. Malcolm North discusses a new, multi-discipline publication from the Forest Service PSW, "An Ecosystem Management Strategy for Sierran Mixed-Conifer Forests".

Amazingly, it seems all the players are agreeing on this document. Wildlife, timber harvests, clean water & healthy forests: maybe we can have it all?

Download a copy of this publication from the Sagehen Events page:

Kyburz Flat animal underpass dedication ceremony.

Kyburz Flat underpass dedication ceremony. from F. Felix on Vimeo.

6-25-09: Members of the Highway-89 Stewardship Team host a dedication ceremony at the new Kyburz Flat animal underpass.

More information about the team.
More videos about the team.

Forest Resiliency & SPLATs Research at Sagehen.

Forest Resiliency & SPLATs Research at Sagehen. from F. Felix on Vimeo.

35:00

This video is Sagehen Summer Speaker Series #21. Professor John Battles discusses how we can convert our precious western national forests from torchy, mismanaged tree farms, back into resilient, naturally-functioning ecosystems using Strategically Placed Area Treatments [SPLATs].

Or choose a Quicktime movie for download:
Small [25.1 MB]
Medium [76.8 MB]
Large [199.3 MB]

You can read Nicole Vaillant's recently completed Ph.D. thesis on SPLATs here.

This study includes a fire history for Sagehen Basin that indicates that the fire return interval in the basin was just a bit over 2-years prior to the logging era. It increased to over 20-years after logging began, which would explain these massive, hot & destructive forest fires we've been having in the West lately.

Sagehen Summer Speaker Series #10: Plant Communication

7-29-06: Professor Rick Karban of UC Davis keeps the crowd enrapt with discussion of his controversial research showing that plants exchange information with each other in response to predators (but you don't have to call it "communication" if that idea bothers you!).

00:49:40 [34.5 MB] or watch below...

Plant Communication from F. Felix on Vimeo.

Sagehen Experimental Forest Dedication Ceremony, June 24, 2006

The Sagehen Experimental Forest Dedication ceremony was held at Sagehen Creek Field Station on June 24, 2006. A number of important people from the Forest Service and UC Berkeley spoke at this historic occasion, making a number of interesting observations about the purpose and potential of the Sagehen Experimental Forest. Watch.
00:52:40 [62.8 MB]

Read about the Sagehen Experimental Forest dedication here.