Eagle Lake Field Station Annual Report

4. EAGLE LAKE FIELD STATION Faculty Reserve Manager [UCD Liason]: Professor Peter Moyle (Wildl./Fish. Biology) Management Committee: to be appointed Management Plan: none reported Habitats: oligotrophic lake, juniper woodland, sagebrush scrub, marsh, ponderosa pine forest Facilities: dorms, cabins, dining hail, lab building, several small boats Environmental Monitoring and Baseline: Instructional Use: Class use of the reserve remained fairly low this year due to the remoteness of the site. The reserve is regularly used for the Wildlife 102 (Field Studies in Fisheries Biology) field course. The reserve has considerable potential for additional instruction. Research Use: Research at the Eagle Lake Field Station continued at a modest level this year. Reese Bowen [Environmental Studies] continued his year-round study of the ecology of the Townsend Soltaire at the station. Ruth Anne Elbert [WFB] received a UCD NRS Student Research Grant to enable her to conduct part of her study of 'mercury uptake in the birds of California" at Eagle Lake. The location of this reserve near the juncture of the northern Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges and the Great Basin, and on the shores of one of the few remaining relatively natural lake ecosystems remaining in the state, provide the site with a high potential for research use. This potential has yet to be realized and more must be done to develop the research and instructional use of this remote field station. Management Issues: 1. A thirty year use agreement between the University of California and Chico State University for the joint operation of the reserve has very recently been approved. 2. The reserve's housing and lab facilities have been fixed up considerably. The field station is still somewhat primitive, but functional, with electricity, hot and cold running water, and a telephone that has been recently added. 3. A new plutoon boat was acquired this year. 4. A management and development plan is needed for the reserve. Notes: 1. The Nature Conservancy recently acquired a key meadow site near the reserve to protect the spawning area of the endemic species of trout. 2. A large piece of private land near the reserve will be logged this year.