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Join us for our next lecture in the
Walking Ecology Lecture series
California Grassland Invasions
by UCSB PhD candidate Nicole Molinari
California native grasslands are largely gone, having been replaced by grasses introduced from Europe. In this lecture Nicole discuss the process and impact of invasion with particular attention to non-native species in California and on Sedgwick Reserve.
Following the lecture Nicole will lead a short walk to highlight a few exotics from Sedgwick and talk about her work on Ripgut Brome
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Come stretch your legs on what might be
the last hike of the season
Saturday May 11th 8:30 am - 1pm
Three hikes will be lead by docent trail guides:
an easy 1.5 mile tour around the field station
1-2 moderate hikes depending on how many sign up
and a strenuous hike to the top of the reserve (and hopefully, back!)
Reservations are recommended and can be made on the web at http://sedgwick.nrs.ucsb.edu/ or by calling (805) 686-1941 x3.
Please arrive by 8:30 to register.
Bring your lunch and stay afterwards to enjoy the shade of the oaks A suggested donation of $10 per person or $15 per family is appreciated but not required.
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We have raised 75% of the funds needed to install an incredible audio-visual system in Clarke Hall of the
Tipton Meeting House.
A BIG THANK YOU to our generous donors who have made this possible. We are still $8,000 short so if YOU would like to part of making this valuable enhancement possible, please email Gay Larsen so we can get the system installed this summer!
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Hardly bare! Look who's been showing up in Sedgwick's trail cameras! 
A number of American black bears (only one of which was black in color) spent the autumn months of 2012 in oak woodlands of Sedgwick gorging on a bumper crop of acorns. Acorns are an important food for many species of birds and animals. Deer and bear posses enzymes in their saliva that enable them to digest acorns, which contain such a high tannic acid content they are considered poisonous to many species (including humans). Rich in carbohydrates and calories, acorns enable black bears to gain 3-5 pounds of body weight a day. They clearly did at Sedgwick last fall! See more bear activity from the Great Bear Year of 2012 photo documented on our website.
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In April, the UCSB lab of postdoctoral researcher Heather Schneider and Dr. Susan Mazer added Sedgwick as a site to include in their National Science Foundation funded "Project Baseline". The project is a nationwide initiative to collect, preserve and archive seeds for future studies of evolutionary responses to human-caused and natural changes in the environment that will occur over the coming decades.
With the valuable assistance of Sedgwick docents and volunteers, the three-year project will entail surveying multiple sites at Sedgwick and collecting seeds from a variety of species that will be stored at the USDA National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Colorado.
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