Research and Regional Partnerships
The Conservancy partners with numerous academic institutions to conduct scientific research on The Preserve. Additionally, as The Preserve exists in a broader landscape, the Conservancy works with regional agencies to share best practices and envision big picture goals. Explore a few of these projects below.
Research Partnerships
Ventana Wildlife Society: Monitoring
The Ventana Wildlife Society , a non-profit dedicated to wildlife and habitat conservation, partners with the Conservancy to conduct grassland and raptor surveys on The Preserve.
CSUMB: Watershed Institute
The Conservancy has a long-standing relationship with California State University, Monterey Bay’s Watershed Institute. CSUMB students and staff conduct stream monitoring and otherwise report on the state of The Preserve’s waterways and their aquatic inhabitants. Read more about the Watershed Institute here.
CSUMB: Bat Diversity and Urbanization
California State University, Monterey Bay Master’s student Bethany Schulze is leading an ongoing bat monitoring project on The Preserve. Bats are an important bio-indicator, a species that suggests overall ecosystem health. Her research will inform important policy considerations regarding urbanization and allowances for wildlife habitat.
UC Davis: Tricolored Blackbird Telemtry
University of California, Davis, partners with us to study our endangered tricolored blackbird population.
Regional Partnerships
TomKat Ranch
TomKat Ranch is an 1,800 acre cattle ranch in the San Francisco Bay Area. Because of their exemplary rangeland management with an eye towards conservation and environmental sustainability, the Conservancy partners with them to exchange best practices to benefit our own grasslands.
Central Coast RX Fire Council
In 2019, Conservancy staff partook in an intensive fire training at Tassajara, Big Sur, organized by the Central Coast Prescribed Fire Council. Working in California compels an understanding fire ecology and learning how to work with this natural disturbance.
Wildland Resource Management
The Conservancy regularly works consults with Carol Rice, an expert on fires at the urban-rural interface, on fire fuel management. Read The Preserve’s Fuel Management Standards here.