An Academic Resource of the Claremont Colleges
Posted in News on Feb 10th, 2014
At the BFS Saturday workdays, volunteers not only improve habitat but also maintain and improve usability for students and researchers. For example, our first two workdays of the spring semester were dedicated to clearing the (badly overgrown) trail around pHake Lake and clearing brush from sites used by students to collect lake water for aquatic […]
Posted in News on Jan 13th, 2014
The weather didn’t cooperate for our last fall volunteer workday on December 7. The temperature was in the low 40s, and just at 10 a.m. when the workday was beginning, it started raining and didn’t quit until the workday was over. Brrrrr! Nonetheless, a great team of dedicated volunteers, including a large contingent of students […]
Posted in News on Nov 24th, 2013
Because the BFS ‘Neck’ is long and skinny, with a lot of “edge” relative to its area, non-native ornamental plants have entered the Neck from adjacent yards, and at last Saturday’s workday, volunteers removed a number of these invading plants from the lower part of the Neck. One target was a sizeable stand of Century […]
Posted in News on Oct 30th, 2013
Conjure up a mental image of pHake Lake, and what do you see? Cattails! As shown nicely in the title image for this blog, a ring of Broad-leaved Cattails (Typha latifolia) almost completely encircles the lake. Broad-leaved Cattails are native to California, and the BFS they provide habitat for some of our resident native animals, […]
Posted in News on Oct 4th, 2013
Because of very low humidity and strong Santa Ana winds, the National Weather Service has issued a “Red Flag Warning” for extreme fire danger for LA County and surrounding regions. We have consequently been asked to curtail all activities at the BFS for the next few days. As a result, the BFS volunteer workday scheduled […]
Posted in News on Sep 23rd, 2013
Since the September 11 Foothill Fire, the field station has received many calls and emails asking, “What are all those orange flags?” Be assured that the flags are not a result of surveying or building plans; rather, they indicate that scientific research is already starting in the burn area! The orange flags visible from Foothill […]
On the afternoon of September 11, sparks from power tools used by a Golden State Water Company Crew started a fire in the Foothill Boulevard Parkway that quickly spread into the field station. Approximately 17 acres along the Foothill frontage between Dartmouth and Mills Avenues were burned before the fire was extinguished. Los Angeles County […]
Posted in News on Sep 11th, 2013
BFS volunteer workdays resumed last Saturday, when the volunteer crew cleared brush around the old infirmary as to reduce the fire hazard. The very dry year (2013 precipitation so far is less than half of average) and extensive reporting on several large wildfires (including the Rim Fire near Yosemite and the Yarnell Hill Fire, which […]
The BFS is excited to announce that two of the senior theses carried out at the BFS this year have won prizes for their outstanding work! Courtney (Liz) Miranda (Scripps ’13) received the 2013 McClintock Science Award for the best senior thesis in science at Scripps College for her thesis “Facilitative Interactions Among Native Perennial […]
Posted in News on Jun 25th, 2013
This academic year’s last two volunteer workdays on June 1 and 15 were devoted to finishing off the Maltese Star Thistles (Centaurea melitensis aka Tocalote). As previously discussed, Maltese Star Thistles are one of our most problematic invasive plants at the BFS. We’ve continued our strategy of having large infestations in open areas cleared with […]