The Blue Oak Ranch Reserve, a unit of the University of California Natural Reserve System, is an

ecological reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

and biological field station in

Santa Clara County Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It is located on in the

Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley ...

, northwest of Mount Hamilton, at

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

. The land, part of the 19th century Mexican land grant of Rancho Cañada de Pala, was donated to the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...

on December 1, 2007 by the Blue Oak Ranch Trust, an anonymous benefactor. Overnight accommodations for academic researchers and educational groups may be made by permission only.

Flora

Flora of Blue Oak Ranch Reserve includes:http://blueoakranchreserve.net/explore/vegetation-and-habitats.html * purple needle grass ('' Nassella pulchra'') *

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

(''

Hordeum ''Hordeum'' is a genus of annual and perennial plants in the grass family. They are native throughout the temperate regions of Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas. One species, ''Hordeum vulgare'' ( barley), has become of major commercial importa ...

'') * bluegrass ('' Poa'' spp.) *

three-awn ''Aristida'' is a very nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family. ''Aristida'' is distinguished by having three awns (bristles) on each lemma of each floret. The genus includes about 300 species found worldwide, often in arid war ...

(''

Aristida ''Aristida'' is a very nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family. ''Aristida'' is distinguished by having three awns (bristles) on each lemma of each floret. The genus includes about 300 species found worldwide, often in arid warm ...

'' spp.) * melic ('' Melica'' sspspp * wildrye ('' Elymus'' and '' Leymus'' spp.) ;Invasive introduced species *

yellow starthistle ''Centaurea solstitialis'', the yellow star-thistle, is a species of thorny plant in the genus ''Centaurea'', which is part of the family Asteraceae. A winter annual, it is native to the Mediterranean Basin region and invasive in many other p ...

('' Centaurea solstitialis'') * medusahead grass (''

Taeniatherum caput-medusae ''Taeniatherum'' is a genus of Eurasian and North African plants in the grass family known by the common name medusahead. The only recognized species is ''Taeniatherum caput-medusae'' and is native to southern and central Europe (from Portugal ...

'') * Italian thistle (''

Carduus pycnocephalus ''Carduus pycnocephalus'', with common names including Italian thistle, Italian plumeless thistle, and Plymouth thistle, is a species of thistle. It is native to: the Mediterranean region in southern Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia; East E ...

'') *

tocalote ''Centaurea melitensis'' (called Maltese star-thistle in Europe, tocalote or tocolote in western North America) is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae, high, with resin-dotted leaves and spine-tipped phyllaries. This plant is native to the ...

(''

Centaurea melitensis ''Centaurea melitensis'' (called Maltese star-thistle in Europe, tocalote or tocolote in western North America) is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae, high, with resin-dotted leaves and spine-tipped phyllaries. This plant is native to the ...

'') * Canada thistle (''

Cirsium arvense ''Cirsium arvense'' is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native throughout Europe and western Asia, northern Africa and widely introduced elsewhere.Joint Nature Conservation Committee''Cirsium arvense'' The standa ...

'') *

bull thistle ''Cirsium vulgare'', the spear thistle, bull thistle, or common thistle, is a species of the Asteraceae genus ''Cirsium'', native throughout most of Europe (north to 66°N, locally 68°N), Western Asia (east to the Yenisei Valley), and northwe ...

(''

Cirsium vulgare ''Cirsium vulgare'', the spear thistle, bull thistle, or common thistle, is a species of the Asteraceae genus ''Cirsium'', native throughout most of Europe (north to 66°N, locally 68°N), Western Asia (east to the Yenisei Valley), and northwest ...

'') ;Plant communities *

valley oak ''Quercus lobata'', commonly called the valley oak or roble, grows into the largest of California oaks. It is endemic to California, growing in interior valleys and foothills from Siskiyou County to San Diego County. Mature specimens may attain ...

woodland * black oak woodland * coast live oak woodland *riparian forest *

chamise ''Adenostoma fasciculatum'', commonly known as chamise or greasewood, is a flowering plant native to California and Baja California. This shrub is one of the most widespread plants of the California chaparral ecoregion. Chamise produces a specia ...

chaparral * Diablan sage scrub *non-native annual grassland *wildflower field *native perennial grassland

Fauna

Fauna of Blue Oak Ranch Reserve includes: *

Western toad The western toad (''Anaxyrus boreas'') is a large toad species, between long, native to western North America. ''A. boreas'' is frequently encountered during the wet season on roads, or near water at other times. It can jump a considerable distan ...

* Pacific tree frog *

Pacific chorus frog The Pacific tree frog (''Pseudacris regilla''), also known as the Pacific chorus frog, has a range spanning the Pacific Northwest, from Northern California, Oregon, and Washington to British Columbia in Canada and extreme southern Alaska. They l ...

red-legged frog Red-legged frog is a common name for several species of frog: * California red-legged frog, ''Rana draytonii'', a frog endemic to California, United States * La Selle red-legged frog, ''Eleutherodactylus furcyensis'', a frog found in the Dominican ...

California newt The California newt or orange-bellied newt (''Taricha torosa''), is a species of newt endemic to California, in the Western United States. Its adult length can range from . Its skin produces the potent toxin tetrodotoxin. Subspecies ''Taricha ...

* California tiger salamander *

Western pond turtle The Western pond turtle (''Actinemys marmorata''), also known commonly as the Pacific pond turtle is a species of small to medium-sized turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is endemic to the western coast of the United States and Mexico, r ...

red-winged blackbird The red-winged blackbird (''Agelaius phoeniceus'') is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North America and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and G ...

* pied-billed grebe *

Canada goose The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), or Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is ...

American coot The American coot (''Fulica americana''), also known as a mud hen or pouldeau, is a bird of the family Rallidae. Though commonly mistaken for ducks, American coots are only distantly related to ducks, belonging to a separate order. Unlike the w ...

wood duck The wood duck or Carolina duck (''Aix sponsa'') is a species of perching duck found in North America. The drake wood duck is one of the most colorful North American waterfowl. Description The wood duck is a medium-sized perching duck. A ty ...

;Invasive fish * sunfish *

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, ...

mosquitofish The western Mosquitofish (''Gambusia affinis'') is a North American freshwater fish, also known commonly, if ambiguously, as simply Mosquitofish or by its generic name, ''Gambusia'', or by the common name gambezi. Its sister species, the easte ...

References

External links

Blue Oak Ranch Reserve official site

{{Protected areas of California, UCNRS University of California Natural Reserve System Protected areas of Santa Clara County, California Diablo Range Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Ecological restoration Environment of the San Francisco Bay Area California chaparral and woodlands Ranches in California University of California, Berkeley

Flora

Fauna

See also

References

External links