Public Hikes, Events and Lectures
Thursday, December 31, 2020
RESERVE CLOSURE IN EFFECT
During the unprecedented public health crisis posed by the spread of COVID-19, the UC Natural Reserve System has curtailed public visitation and all but essential and Covid19 related research on UC Natural Reserves. To protect the health and safety of the visitors and staff, Sedgwick Reserve remains closed except for essential maintenance. For the latest updates on the CoVid19 response by the University of California Santa Barbara and on the seven Natural Reserves it manages, please visit the UCSB NRS website.
Past Events at the Reserve
Thursday, August 6, 2020
7pm
FREE ONLINE LECTURE
The role of crickets in most people’s lives is “background music” to summer evening gatherings over food, drink, and good conversation while the kids play. Fewer people know them as food for pet reptiles or bait for anglers. But what can crickets and other insects tell us about the effects of climate change? On Thursday, August 6, 2020, Dr. Caroline Williams of UC Berkeley will explore this question in a free online webinar co-hosted by UC Sedgwick Reserve and the Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society. Dr. Williams’s online presentation, "Crickets of Sedgwick" will include a description of her broader research program, which focuses on biological impacts of winter climate change and how snow drives ecology and evolution of insects. “We are so eager to hear Caroline Williams’s presentation,” said Kate McCurdy, Resident Manager at the Reserve. “She and her collaborators have spent more time with the “crickets of Sedgwick” than anyone. Caroline’s research is changing what scientists understand about how warmer winters affect a range of living creatures that are adapted to winter cold.” Caroline Williams is fascinated by how insects and other ectotherms maintain metabolism and performance in fluctuating environments. For example, how will climate change affect insect populations? Currently she is studying winter climate change and how snow cover affects montane beetles.
Dr. Caroline Williams is professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley. Her research combines field-based natural history and experiments with laboratory-based biochemistry and physiology. She uses the UC Natural Reserves, including Sedgwick Reserve, extensively for collecting scientific data in the field.
Register in advance for this August 6 webinar:
https://ucsb.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HMZdgBPlSiKDR--C0Aa6HA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. You do not need to have Zoom software downloaded on your computer or mobile device in order to attend. The presentation will last about 45 minutes; there will be time afterwards for Q and A.
Thursday, June 25, 2020
7:00pm
Click here to watch the recorded lecture on YouTube:
About our speaker: Jen Hunter, director of UC Berkeley's Hastings Natural History Reserve, unabashedly loves skunks. After receiving a PhD in Ecology from the University of California at Davis, Jen has traveled the world to study cheetahs, leopards, black and white ruffed lemurs, bottlenose dolphins and other colorful creatures. Find for yourself why she reveres striped skunks the most!
Saturday, March 28, 2020
8:30am-1:30pm
ALL SPRING HIKES HAVE BEEN CANCELLED :(
Pre-registration for our guided, interpretive hikes at the 6,000 acre Sedgwick Reserve is required.
The Saturday, March 28th public hike day begins at 9am; hikes last two to three hours. In addition to the hikes, there will be an opportunity to see the newly-renovated century-old historic Sedgwick barn, our pond (home to numerous rare and special-status species, including the Western pond turtle and the tricolored blackbird), and the Tipton Meeting House. HIkers are welcome to bring a lunch and enjoy it in the shade of beautiful valley oaks at our Field Station picnic area.
Secure your hike with $20/person registration fee (kids under 13 are free). The opening of online registration will be announced by email on Saturday, March 14. Click HERE to sign up for our mailing list and don’t delay registration once hikes are announced - they fill up quickly!
In the event of rain hikes will be cancelled and registrants will be notified via email 24 hours in advance.
Check-in opens at 8:30am and hikes will depart promptly at 9am.
Three levels of intensity are offered for the March 28 hike day:
Easy Hike: Mesa Trail. Approximately 1.5 hours and 1 mile with 400 feet of elevational gain. An easy stroll along the Mesa with a good share of interpretation and vistas. Includes a long stair climb and a short down hill stretch, about two hours total. An optional tour of the restored Ranch House and the hundred year old barn, home of our Sedgwick Barn Owl. Appropriate for children and seniors. Bring water and snacks. The easy hike is limited to the first 20 people who sign up.
Moderate Hike: Blue Schist Trail. Approximately 2.35 miles with 630 feet of elevational gain. A moderately strenuous hike with two long grades to climb. Moderate amount of interpretation by docents, beautiful vistas, wildflowers in season, the results of a dormant earthquake uplift to see, and interesting rock formations. Almost three hours. Our most popular hike. Bring water and snacks. The moderate hike is limited to the first 20 people who sign up.
Strenuous Hike: Northeast Loop. Approximately 5 miles with 1460 feet elevation change. An aerobic workout at the northern end of the Reserve. Hills to climb and wonderful vistas and wildflowers in season. Not much interpretation by docents and almost four hours long. Bring water and snacks. The moderate hike is limited to the first 20 people who sign up.
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