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CalNat 2019

Join our Trans Sierra California Naturalist training course for 2019! Learn about California's natural history through the lens of Yosemite and Mammoth Lakes. Two weekends in summer, 2019.
CalNat 2019 Info
CalNat 2017

Research at the Yosemite Field Station

UCSD's Celia Symons used cattle tanks with and without fish to study how temperature mediates the effect of predators on aquatic food webs.

Partnerships with NPS

Biological science technician Thomas Reyes and Park hydrologist Jim Roche mentored REU students in 2015.

Youth Programs

Using Yosemite as a classroom, the station works with several exciting youth programs to get students involved with science and the natural world.

Research at the Sequoia Field Station

UC Berkeley researcher Wendy Baxter studies the effects of drought on giant sequoia, featured recently in The Atlantic.
Giants in the Face of Drought
Wendy Baxter in a giant sequoia
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Welcome!

UC Merced operates two field stations in Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks in partnership with Yosemite National Park and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. The stations offer unparalleled access and support for research and teaching in the parks and surrounding areas. We are dedicated to facilitating collaboration between sciences, arts and the humanities, education, and natural resource management. The Yosemite Field Station and UC Merced's Vernal Pool Grassland Reserve are two of the 41 reserves in the UC Natural Reserve System.

COVID-19 and the SNRS

Updated 3/19/2020

The following represents current guidance for the UC Merced Natural Reserve System. We reserve the right to cancel any reservation to protect the health and safety of visitors and staff, and to revise policies in the event of specific campus, state, NRS, NPS, or CDC guidance.

Yosemite Field Station: 

  • All visits are cancelled through the end of March, 2020.
  • In April, and pending resolution of the statewide "shelter-in-place" order issued by Governor Newsom, we anticipate allowing only visits that support essential research (i.e., place-based scholarly activities and programs that cannot reasonably be conducted elsewhere or rescheduled for a later date). Any essential research visitor groups must be 10 or fewer people. Approval is subject to the availability of housing that can allow for appropriate social distancing while staying at the field station.
  • Processing of all *new* reservations for May through August 2020 is on hold, as we develop our plans for allowing future use of the field station. We will issue updated guidance for May and beyond as the situation evolves.

Sequoia Field Station:  The field station remains closed for the winter, but re-opening may be impacted by COVID-19.

Any queries about SNRS reservations can be directed to NRS Associate Director Molly Stephens, mstephens3@ucmerced.edu, 209-500-6325.