UCSC Fort Ord Natural Reserve

11/05/2025

https://give.ucsc.edu/schools/UniversityofCaliforniaSantaCruz/giving-day-2025/pages/bring-k-12-students-to-fort-ord-natural-reserve/?a=8930098

It's not too late to help us with our K-12 education programs, thanks for your support!

Please share the Fort Ord Natural Reserve Giving Day project with your friends and family!

11/05/2025

11/05/2025

Give Now!- Giving Day 2025 is Wednesday November 5 - Bring K-12 Students to Fort Ord Natural Reserve: https://give.ucsc.edu/schools/UniversityofCaliforniaSantaCruz/giving-day-2025/pages/bring-k-12-students-to-fort-ord-natural-reserve/?a=8930098

Hello Friends of Fort Ord Natural Reserve!

We would like to ask for your help. UCSC Giving Day is a 24 hour fundraiser that runs all day tomorrow, November 5. Please share this post with your friends and family.

Donor funds are the only source that we use to create exceptional field trip experiences for K-12 students from the Monterey Bay and Salinas Valley area. Each year we visit more classrooms in the area, and bring nearly 800 students, teachers, and parents from local K-12 schools to learn at UCSC Fort Ord Natural Reserve

Your donations will help support student employees, cover transportation costs for underserved schools, and update materials for the experiential learning programs that we have been growing for over a decade!

No amount of support is too small. If you or someone you know has been inspired by the habitats, students, and programs at Fort Ord Natural Reserve; Tomorrow is your chance to give back!

Please enjoy the video at the link (produced by generous Fort Ord student interns!) while you consider your gift.

As always, stay in touch if you want more information about our programs. We hope to see you on the reserve!

11/20/2024

Giving day is today, follow the link to donate!

https://www.givecampus.com/schools/UniversityofCaliforniaSantaCruz/giving-day-2024/pages/enhance-field-research-experiences-at-fort-ord-natural-reserve

Today you can help support student experiences at UCSC Fort Ord Natural Reserve, during UCSC Giving Day 2024! Follow the link in above to help support our work enhancing field science student experiences at Fort Ord Natural Reserve!

UCSC Fort Ord Natural Reserve is a UC Natural Reserve System site dedicated to facilitating research and student experiential learning opportunities. We have created hundreds of opportunities for thousands of undergraduates and K-12 students in recent years, with minimal infrastructure and a small budget. We seek to update our aging collection of tools with modern and functional field biology kit (scales, microscopes, botanical tools, etc.), as well as a small solar system to support a renewable electricity source at our off-grid outdoor classroom. Help us create essential field experiences that train the next generation of conservation leaders!

07/09/2024

Summer vibes at FONR include foggy mornings, summer bloomers, stewardship, seaside bird’s beak monitoring (CA endangered plant), sneaky snakes, and great students working hard! 🌫️ ☀️ 🌱 🐍

06/25/2024

We had a great time last week hosting the Watsonville Wetlands Watch “Wetlands Stewards” students on a year end retreat at FONR! In the In the Wetland Stewards program, high school students from Pajaro Valley serve as mentors to middle and elementary school students through their local after-school programs. Together they explore the wetlands through both field trips and classroom-based activities. We think that’s great! We are so happy to share the reserve with them and thank them for the important work they do around Watsonville! 🙏

Watsonville Wetlands Watch

06/12/2024

Here is a nice story about our work with local high school students:

As the only full-time staff member at UC Santa Cruz's Ford Old Natural Reserve, Director Joe Miller doesn't need to create more work for himself. And yet, he's managed to do just that by successfully partnering with a nearby charter high school that brings students onto the 610-acre property to teac...

05/04/2024

It’s nice to remember the time we spent at Fort Ord Natural Reserve a few weeks back, when we were fortunate to host a retreat day for the staff from the UCSC Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department! We toured the chaparral and saw some sweet blooms, and took some time to reflect on nature and take in some quiet time and fresh air! Thanks for the visit, and all the work you do for our students at UCSC!

04/27/2024

We were very fortunate to host 4th grade classes from La Gloria Elementary School yesterday. Learning with them about ecology and local flora and fauna was the best! Students from UC Santa Cruz and CSU Monterey Bay were on hand to lead hikes, host learning programs, and help show these awesome 4th Graders what it’s like to study natural science at a university.

This trip was funded through a grant from the Monterey County Fish and Game commission, and we are grateful for the opportunity to bring these awesome kids from Gonzales, CA out to learn more about our nature reserve! We are also thankful for the amazing assistance from Habitat Stewardship Project Monterey Bay, who help host lots of K-12 filed trips with our UCSC interns and student employees.

Thanks for visiting! 🐾

04/26/2024

It was a fantastic time last weekend, when we were fortunate to host the Cabrillo College extension Field Illustration course at Fort Ord Natural Reserve! Taught by the talented and generous Megan Painter (Seven Ravens Studio), participants were treated to a gorgeous display of native blooms out in the chaparral, and learned techniques of in-depth study of plants and flowers. Participants also received an introduction to the reserve from Director Joe Miller, highlighting rare and special organisms, as well as insight about our programs.
There are two more sessions planned for June and July, so visit the Cabrillo Extension website at https://extension.cabrillo.edu for more information. It would be great to see you out there!