Blogs

    December 31, 2024 Dear Jasper Ridge Community, As we approach the new year of 2025, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you for the many ways you have supported Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma). Because of your contributions, we accomplished significant milestones in 2024. We have continued to lead in innovative research and education to understand Earth's... more

We're in the midst of preparing another iteration of the field course "Ecology and Natural History of Jasper Ridge," now in its 50th year. In just a few weeks, we'll be seeing new docents-to-be creating community as they spend Thursday afternoons at the preserve. We'll come to know the unique expertise they bring to their learning and scholarship, and can't... more

Corine Pearce teaching basket weaving to Stanford students (photo by Tadashi Fukami) Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ( 'Ootchamin 'Ooyakma ) collaborated with Fiber Optics , a workshop with the Stanford Humanities Center, to host a basket weaving workshop with Corine Pearce . Corine is a Native California basketweaver from the Redwood Valley Little River Band of Pomo. Held at the... more

On July 28-29, 2024, multiple families from the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, among them fifteen youth members, came to Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma) for a campout. The youth, ages ranging 3 to 14, were accompanied by twelve adult members. Fourteen Stanford affiliates, including students, faculty, and staff, also participated in the campout, making... more

At Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma), we have been continuing our efforts to turn the preserve into a place where not just Western science, but both Western and Indigenous science can flourish, and inform each other. Given this new focus , we were honored to learn that Charlene Nijmeh, the Chairwoman of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San... more

An image of two dusky-footed woodrats captured at night by a camera trap. During the fall of 2023, a required fuel reduction treatment was conducted at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma) along the Westridge fence line to create a fuel break that helps mitigate wildfire risk for the preserve and neighboring properties. Most of the reduction was within 300... more

A Swainson's thrush with a radio tag on its back. Photo by Trevor Hebert. This spring, Jasper Ridge joined the Motus network , an international collaborative research group that leverages radio signaling to track and monitor migratory animals. The Motus tower at Jasper Ridge has been successful in detecting band-tailed pigeons, and Motus tags installed on Swainson’s thrushes at Jasper... more

Western bewildering bushmallow plants growing around a burned pile At Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma), a rare, locally endemic plant is growing vigorously in the area where intentional burning was applied to chaparral earlier this year. This fire-dependent plant, called western bewildering bushmallow, likely germinated from the centuries-old seed bank in the burned soil. Its return symbolizes Indigenous awakening... more

An aerial view of the western bewildering bushmallow, a rare San Francisco Bay area endemic. California is one of five Mediterranean climate regions around the world, in which summers are reliably hot and dry, while winters are cold and wet. Wildfires periodically arise in the summer, and many California native plants have adapted to Mediterranean climate and to fire. Fire... more

Julian Tattoni, the founder of the Jasper Ridge bird-banding station, gives a Swainson’s Thrush its Motus backpack. Photos by Trevor Hebert and Marty Freeland. If you see a Swainson’s Thrush ( Catharus ustulatus ) wearing a little backpack with an antenna at Jasper Ridge, don’t be alarmed—as hard as it may be to believe your eyes, the bird isn’t a... more