Sagehen Creek Field Station Manager's Collection

This collection relates to the administration and operations of Sagehen Creek Field Station before it joined the UC Natural Reserve System in 2004, including the scientific, land use, landscape history of the reserve site and surrounding area. Of special note are original datasets pertaining to several subjects, correspondence of the Leopold family, and documents pertaining to the reserve’s relationship with the US Forest Service, which led to Sagehen becoming the country’s first collaboratively managed experimental forest established in almost 50 years.

This collection includes four series:

The Don C. Erman Files series contains records from Erman’s tenure as Sagehen director in the 1980s. It includes administrative documents, reserve maps, research documents, correspondence, annual reports dating from 1963-92, and materials related to annual meetings and public events. This series highlights Sagehen’s relationships with partner organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, US Forest Service, and UC Berkeley. This series covers from 1963-92, with one document from 2006 on the cooperative management of the Chickering American River Reserve.

The Research Files and Data series includes research administration documents, correspondence concerning research, raw data, species lists, and information about herbarium and vertebrate collections on the reserve. Of particular note are: (1) original weather data for Sagehen from 1952-82, (2) stream surveys, conducted by Gard, Schnell, Nisbet, and DeFoe, from 1956 and 1961, including depth, width, silt, and observations such as the locations of beaver dams, etc., (3) two sets of stream data, one from 1954-68 and one from 1953-93, focusing on temperature and aquatic chemistry, (4) data from 1970 on deer use of burned and unburned areas collected by A. Starker Leopold, (5) data on conifers from 1971, (6) bird census data on burned and unburned plots from 1965-84 and their relation to the Audubon Society's American Birds project, (7) US Geological Survey data collected by Luna Leopold from 1968-69, including correspondence between Luna and Starker Leopold, (8) biometric readings for Sagehen from 1955-59, (9) Michael Fabbri's handwritten field notes related to a bird and mammal census from 1974-75, (10) fish scale sample data from 1951-61, and (11) USGS flood frequency reports for Sagehen from 1984.

The Management Files series covers facilities, equipment, maintenance records, and receipts. It includes documents related to meetings, fundraising, and other support activities. This series was created mainly by reserve managers Mark D. Reynolds, Michael Williams, and Virginia Boucher from 1981-93.

The Correspondence and Administrative Files series includes documents pertaining to Sagehen’s daily operations, research activities, programs, and relationships with other organizations. Incoming correspondence is addressed to station directors and managers Paul R. Needham, Vernon Hawthorne, Michael Williams, Mark Reynolds, and Virginia Boucher from researchers, program participants, the US Forest Service, and UC Berkeley. This series contains some copies of outgoing correspondence, and covers the period from 1949-2000.