Conservation, Science and Community
Bio 631, Fall 2021
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California Newt, Taricha torosa. These newts are active in the winter in California, traveling back to water sources to breed.
Class Focus
Class Focus
Conservation, Science and Commmunity is the first core course of the program. In this class we think about how communities can support and enhance the conservation focus of their local areas. Within this course, the main project is the Community Engagement Lab, where you learn about your own community. to better understand and address local ecological problems.
Connection to my Master Plan
My master plan involves connecting to place and how we make connections to where we live. After my first visit to Jasper Ridge in 1992 and as a docent at Jasper Ridge since 1997, I have had opportunities to visit this same place for more than 30 years. This connection to place has remained special to me and I value the chance to see and experience change over time. When I first went to Jasper Ridge as an undergraduate in bio lab, I saw water all the way under the spillway, which is now a thriving willow forest supporting birds and mammals. I also have seen the succession of a meadow from open to filled with chapparal vegetation, showing what happens when an area like this, previously managed by the native Muwekma Ohlone with fire, changes without that intervention. The Jasper Ridge Biological Field Station has been an important influence on me and I love my continued relationship with this place.
A view of Searsville Lake from the hill near the field station looking back towards the willows.
Community Engagement Lab
Community Engagement Lab
My CEL focused on how Stanford University, where I live on campus, fits in the local Santa Clara county. I specifically investigated water use in the county and the work that Stanford is doing at Jasper Ridge to remove a dam at Searsville Lake. After I completed this project, Stanford and Jasper Ridge have finalized the plan for Searsville Dam. It will be removed and the area will be allowed to return to being a meadow with the stream running through it.
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