Our soon-to-be-established Natural Reserve System Community Advisory Committee will serve as a bridge between individual reserves, the university administration, and the broader community. Its primary goal is to increase philanthropic, community, and institutional support to ensure the long-term stewardship and success of the reserves.

We are looking for community members to represent each reserve, as well as one student representative. Interested in serving? Please nominate yourself by emailing our Executive Director, Dr. Kellie Uyeda, at kuyeda@ucsd.edu. 

Join us on Saturday, August 15th from 8:30 am - 11:30 am for our annual Wander the Wetlands docent training at Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve, hosted by UC San Diego Natural Reserve System and San Diego Bird Alliance.

This training prepares you to support Wander the Wetlands, a program that welcomes the public to experience the marsh twice a month through birding, fish monitoring, and weeding. 

Congratulations to our fourth annual cohort of Roy Little Fellows, made possible by a generous gift by Dorothy Little in honor of her late husband. These Fellows are UC San Diego students who gain paid work experience while supporting the Natural Reserve System's outreach and research efforts. 

Sofie Blazejova

Senior majoring in General Biology and Biochemistry

Fun fact: I love bugs!

Duvaugn Pryce

Sophomore majoring in Marine Biology

Fun Fact: I’m also a student research assistant with the SIO Coral Reef Ecophysiology & Engineering Lab.

Sammy Wilkerson

Junior majoring in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution, with a minor in Chinese Studies

Fun Fact: I’m also the director of philanthropy for Alpha Omicron Pi at UC San Diego.

Devin Buss

Senior majoring in Environmental Systems: Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution

Fun fact: I've backpacked through Sequoia, King's Canyon, and summited Mount Whitney without ever restocking my backpack.

Scripps marine biologist Greg Rouse and recent Scripps graduate Siara Mitchell collect algae samples in the field. Photo: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego

A new statewide effort to catalogue California's coastal biodiversity includes sampling at Scripps Coastal Reserve. Scroll down to see one of the observations featured as our iNaturalist observation of the month, and read the full story at UC San Diego Today.

Join us for a public meeting to share restoration activities at Elliott Chaparral Reserve and upcoming volunteer opportunities on Wednesday, August 19th at 6 pm at the Scripps Ranch Civic Association Community Center.

Find all our upcoming events here. 

Scripps Coastal Reserve: Mesa docent-led walks

1st Saturdays, 9 - 11 AM

Scripps Coastal Reserve: Mesa weeding

most Fridays, 8 - 10 am

Wander the Wetlands at Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve

2nd and 4th Saturdays

9 - 11 AM

This month's iNaturalist observation is a nudibranch in the genus Orienthella observed by Dr. Jeff Goddard at Scripps Coastal Reserve during a bioblitz for the California Intertidal Biodiversity DNA Barcode Library Project. This nudibranch has not yet been described to the species level, but the DNA barcoding project should help to speed efforts to name it. 

Post your own photos of native plants or animals on iNaturalist while visiting a NRS reserve (perhaps at one of the events above) for a chance to have your photo featured here next month. Check out all the observations collected at UC San Diego Reserves on iNaturalist.