Four of UC Davis' six Natural Reserve System sites, run by Susan Harrison and Virginia Boucher and slated for program upgrades, are featured below.

More information about the UC Davis system is online at www.ice.ucdavis.edu/nrs. More information about the UC-wide system is online at nrs.ucop.edu.

• Jepson Prairie Reserve

This is an island of remnant natural prairie in a wide alluvial floodplain used primarily for agriculture.

The reserve protects one of the state's best remaining vernal-pool habitats, as well as remnants of native bunchgrass prairie that once covered one-fourth of California.

More than 400 species and 64 families of plants, including 15 rare and endangered plants, are found on site.

Established: 1983

Location: Solano County, 25 minutes south of Davis

Size and ownership: 1,566 acres. Owned by Solano Land Trust. An agreement is being negotiated for UC researchers to use 100 acres of adjacent Gridley Trust property.

Grant highlights: $4,500 from UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources for livestock troughs and water tanks

Top priorities: Continue development of resource databases and prescribed-burn program

Public access: Open to public all year. Free guided tours in spring through Jepson Prairie Docent Program

Field guide: Jepson Prairie Reserve Handbook, second edition, 1998

More information:

www.ice.ucdavis.edu/nrs/jepson.html

• Donald and Sylvia McLaughlin Natural Reserve

The largest of the UC Davis reserves. It is one of few sites in California that protects unusual serpentine-rock habitats.

Chemically hostile to most plants, the serpentine deposits at McLaughlin create islands of endemic plants and insects among more typical Coast Range habitats, including riparian woodland, blue oak woodland and savannah, grassland and chaparral.

Researchers can use extensive geologic databases created by the reserve's gold mining owners.

Established: 1992

Location: The junction of Napa, Lake and Yolo counties, two hours from Davis

Size and ownership: About 7,000 acres. Owner is decommissioning operations and site management will be turned over to UC Davis. Campus may take title to some land.

Grant highlights: Five-year, $998,000 award from Packard Foundation to six UC Davis investigators in three departments for graduate training in plant evolutionary ecology; related three-year, $300,000 award from Andrew Mellon Foundation

Top priorities: Fund and hire a manager and a half-time steward (Harrison's top priority for the entire UC Davis reserve system)

Public access: None, although tours may be offered after mine is decommissioned.

Field guide: Natural History of the McLaughlin Reserve, 2000

More information: www.ice.ucdavis.edu/nrs/mclaughlin.html

• Quail Ridge Reserve

Located on a steep peninsula in one of the driest parts of the Northern California Coast Range, the reserve projects into Lake Berryessa and holds outstanding remnants of extremely rare native grassland, savannah and oak woodland habitats.

Strongholds of native grasses include purple needlegrass, junegrass, California oniongrass and California fescue.

Established: 1991

Location: Napa County, half-hour west of Davis

Size and ownership: 1,937 acres. Owned by five entities including the University of California, state and federal agencies and a nonprofit land trust.

Grant highlights: $550,000 from California Coastal Conservancy for land acquisition

Top priorities: Increase academic use; continue acquisition of private inholdings; manage native grasslands to eliminate invasive species

Public access: Vistors may pay for guided tours through Quail Ridge Wilderness Conservancy.

Field guide: None

More information: www.ice.ucdavis.edu/nrs/quail.html

• Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve

This reserve is set in a steep, north-facing canyon and provides excellent opportunities to study undisturbed plant and animal communities of the inner and outer Coast Ranges.

Variations in slope, exposure and moisture regimes promote a variety of habitats, including grasslands, woodlands, chaparral and foothill stream. Wildlife include bear, mountain lion, deer, ringtail and turkey.

Established: 1979

Location: Solano and Napa counties, 40 minutes from Davis

Size and ownership: 576 acres. All owned by the University of California.

Grant highlights: $22,500 from the California Coastal Conservancy for environmental education, matched by UC Natural Reserve System for trail completion

Top priorities: Improve access for public hiking

Public access: Open to public all year. Free tours led by UC Davis docents begin in April.

Field guide: The Natural History of Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve, 2001

More information: www.ice.ucdavis.edu/nrs/stebbins.html