Projects
-
Herpetofauna & Invertebrate Coverboards
Tracking nature’s health indicators over time In association with a post-fire forest restoration project funded by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Pepperwood has installed over 90 coverboards distributed throughout the reserve. Coverboards are square pieces of plywood that rest on the forest floor, installed flush with the soil,
-
Post-fire Restoration of Coast Range Headwaters
Post-fire Restoration of Coast Range Headwaters Pepperwood is demonstrating a model for post-fire watershed restoration directly applicable to many California habitats. Our goal is to shape and share ecologically-appropriate ways to reduce hazardous fuel loads to help minimize the impacts of catastrophic wildfires. In 2019 Pepperwood launched a three-year effort
-
Climate Monitoring
Pepperwood measures precipitation on the preserve and how it flows through the landscape. A network of sensors located across the preserve measures things like rainfall, temperature, humidity, soil moisture, leaf wetness, and fog. We’re one of only a handful of sites in the entire Bay Area equipped with soil moisture
-
Golden Gate Biosphere
First thing’s first: what exactly is a biosphere region? The biosphere is the thin zone of the Earth where land, water, and air interact to support life. It is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. Simply put, it is where all life on Earth exists. The United Nations Educational Scientific
-
Forest Monitoring
The forest monitoring study at Pepperwood is creating a vital baseline for the health of Northern California forests that will be valuable to researchers for decades to come. In the short term, the data we’re collecting is helping us understand the effects of extreme weather events like California’s historic drought. Pepperwood
-
Fog Mapping & Modeling
Summertime fog is a major modifier of the climatic condition along the California coast and has significant effects on human and ecological coastal communities. Marine stratocumulus and fog alter evapotranspiration rates, provide substantial moisture for coastal plants, modify stream temperatures, and strongly affect the distribution of plants and animals in
-
Breeding Bird Survey
Initiated in 2007, the annual Pepperwood Breeding Bird Survey is conducted three times during the April to June breeding season. Two of the four monitoring transects have significant grassland habitat. Volunteers play an integral role in this study of local bird species, generating data essential to our understanding of how
-
California Phenology Project
In 2013, Pepperwood became one of the first nine sentinel sites in the state to join the California Phenology Project, a member of the National Phenology Network. Our project joins existing National Park Service sites and UC Reserves in a growing effort to document how the life cycles of plants
-
Grassland Monitoring
This is a test except for grassland monitoring.
-
Stream Flow Enhancement
Thanks to funding from California’s Wildlife Conservation Board, Pepperwood is conducting a streamflow enhancement project. We are testing the hypothesis that forest thinning may increase water yield by using a paired watershed approach. We will compare the amount of water in the air, in the ground, and in our streams