Santa Cruz Mountains Reserve

The Santa Cruz Mountains Reserve (SCMR) is the newest member of the University of California Santa Cruz’s Natural Reserve program, officially breaking ground in 2022. SCMR, in essence, is a partnership between UCSC and the surrounding stewards, land managers, and communities of the Santa Cruz Mountains. SCMR and our partners share a common goal of providing opportunities for hands-on environmental education through the creation of outdoor classroom experiences and supporting collaborative research and stewardship projects. Through these prime directives, SCMR’s aim is to foster a strong relationship between students at UCSC and partnering lands, agencies, and organizations. Students that utilize SCMR will take the experiences they’ve learned and adapt and build upon them wherever they go and conduct research that helps us better understand and conserve the Santa Cruz Mountain region. By building bonds with our collaborators, students will have the opportunity to work directly with local land managers, eventually becoming the next generation of environmental and conservation leaders.

Land Acknowledgement

The UC Natural Reserve System recognizes that reserves sit on the territory of Native peoples of California, and that these lands were and continue to be of great importance to those peoples. Every member of the NRS community has and continues to benefit from the use and stewardship of these lands. Consistent with our values of community and diversity, we acknowledge with gratitude and make visible the University’s relationship to Native peoples.