February 2026 Newsletter

New Blog: Science and Stewardship in the Santa Cruz Mountains

The Santa Cruz Mountains Stewardship Network recently hosted a Science and Stewardship Symposium, bringing together hundreds of researchers and practitioners to showcase vital work in the region. Projects from Stanford and Jasper Ridge were spotlighted throughout the event, with a special emphasis on meaningful collaborations with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. Read the full blog post here.

Invasive Plant Species Management, Volunteers needed this month!

Volunteers are need to help pull non-native invasive plants at Jasper Ridge. This month we will tackle thistle and French broom. Scroll down more information below in our Stewardship section.

In the News

Peter Raven and colleagues published a research paper titled "Fertility and clonality of Pickeringia (Fabaceae), a unique endemic genus of the California chaparral." Read more about how observations by Chiariello, Renshaw, and Rawlings at Jasper Ridge contributed to an analysis of the fertility and clonality of Pickeringia, a California chaparral shrub. Read the article here.

Visit the Research Projects page to continue learning about the research projects at Jasper Ridge. 

New Research 

Lauren Puleo, second-year PhD student in the Daru lab, is sampling Oakmead Herbarium specimens for a study on recovering microbes in floral nectar of sticky monkeyflower (Diplacus aurantiacus).

New research projects on the effects of pile burning:

• Yuerong Xiao, PhD student in the Fukami lab, with support from Trevor Hébert is using camera traps to observe animal activity like “ash bathing” in the cultural burn piles
• Daniel Neamati, PhD candidate in the Gao lab, will track vegetation regrowth in the cultural burn piles using 3D image mapping models that he previously developed to reconstruct the chaparral burned at Westridge in 2024 to track vegetation regrowth. Watch how plants grew, including the rare bushmallow, with interactive 3D models on Daniel’s website! See example below.

• Zoe Colloredo-Mansfeld and Katherine Lai, both JRBP('O'O) docents, with support from classmates will explore the role of temperature in shaping fungal communities in burn piles almost two years after the chaparral was burned, as part of Prof. Kabir Peay’s course on the evolution, ecology and diversity of fungi.

Publications

Raven P, Baldwin B, Fawcett S, Beck J, Forbes H, Guilliams Matt, Jones A, Rebman J, Xerogeanes J (2026) Fertility and clonality of Pickeringia (Fabaceae), a unique endemic genus of the California chaparral. Artemisia, 51(2), 20-26.

The Stanford community may know Peter Raven best for his collaboration with Paul R. Ehrlich on “Butterflies and Plants: A Study in Coevolution” (Evolution, 1964), a landmark paper that helped shape modern ecology and evolution. Peter Raven worked at Stanford from 1962 to 1971 and then served as Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden from 1971 to 2010.

*Ou WJA, Germain RM, & Fukami T (2026) Sink invaders can increase resident metapopulation size by modifying local conditions and regional connectivity. bioRxiv. (*preprint)

Community Lecture, Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Join us for “Tribal Land Stewardship: Challenges and Opportunities” with Stanford Law Professor Deborah Sivas. She’ll share insights from partnering with Stanford’s Environmental Law Clinic and California tribes on environmental protection litigation, and what it takes for Indigenous communities to steward and co-steward lands today. Please visit our Events page for more information.

Community Lecture, Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Professor Lee Panich from the Department of Anthropology, Santa Clara University, will share his presentation titled: "From Land Grants to Land Grab: The Dispossession of Ohlone Lands in the Mid-Nineteenth Century".  Please visit our Events page for more information.

Invasive Plant Species Management

Volunteers are needed to pull non-native invasive plants at Jasper Ridge. We will tackle thistle and French broom! More information below in our stewardship section.

• Thistle removal: Thu Feb 19 & Fri Feb 20, 9:00 AM–12:00 PM.
• French broom removal: Tue Feb 17 & Tue Feb 24, 8:00–11:00 AM. 

Interested in helping? Please complete this short survey so we can plan ahead and share updates with you. If you have any questions, please contact our program manager, edebuysser [at] stanford.edu (Elise DeBuysser).

Stewardship Intern Program Application now open for summer 2026

The Stewardship Intern Program is an opportunity for Stanford students to work at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma) to further develop existing skills in ecology, natural history and field work, while learning about research, education and outreach and stewardship under the mentorship of a diverse team of scientists. Requirements, Eligibility and Application in this link. Deadline February 27, 2026.