One of the main goals of the Point Reyes Field Station is to provide researchers much-needed overnight accommodations, work space, and opportunities for collaboration in West Marin. Hailing from universities around the country, researchers value the amenities of Point Reyes Field Station when completing field campaigns for projects that include the effects of sudden oak death on surrounding oak and mixed evergreen forests, diversity of fungal populations, wetland and forest ecology, rangeland ecology, and population dynamics of salmon, spider, algal, eelgrass, and black rails. The field station’s close proximity to host campus UC Berkeley and other universities in the San Francisco Bay area also make it an ideal location for groups and classes to stay for an exploratory field trip or a long-term curriculum of conservation biology and field-based ecological methods.
Research needs
Researchers and classes have worked within Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area, both managed by the National Park Service, and nearby open space owned and managed by California State Parks, Marin Municipal Water District, and Marin County Open Space, to name a few. We are working with each of these agencies to communicate their ongoing research needs to faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates at local universities and research centers.
A terrific website for science and education in the National Park Service’s eleven regional park units is the San Francisco Bay Area National Parks Science and Learning. We encourage you to sign up for their informative monthly newsletter to keep abreast of the latest science happenings in the area.
If you are looking for a project please visit this website.
Research priorities for San Francisco Bay Area network of National Park Service park units
We will provide more links from local agencies as they become available. In the meantime, do not hesitate to contact the scientists associated with the parks and agencies, including the National Park Service for more current needs, for they definitely have projects and topics that need attention but might not have had the chance to formalize the needs into an actual list.
Where to apply for research permits
National Park Service (Point Reyes National Seashore, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods, etc.)
California State Parks (Samuel P. Taylor State Park, Mt. Tamalpais State Park)
Marin Municipal Water District
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (for working with plants or animals, including rare, threatened, and endangered species)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (for working with plants and animals, including rare, threatened, and endangered species)