‘Cal State River Ridge’ returns: college program offered Public also invited to concert

THE RECORDER recorder@portervillerecorder.com

“Cal State River Ridge” has returned for another summer.

Students from across the U.S. Are now gathered at River Ridge Ranch and Institute just above Springville to carry out their own research under a program funded by the National Science Foundation and offered through the Geography department at Long Beach State.

Students from Arizona, Washington, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, California, North Carolina, Oregon and Indiana are participating in the program. An opening reception for the program will be held a week from today, Friday, June 2 at 6:30 p.m. and the public is invited.

The public is invited to meet and mingle with the students, graduate students, and faculty and enjoy a free concert at 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 2. Singer/songwriter Abby Posner will entertain while everyone, including students, faculty and the community can enjoy a bring your own dinner under the cover of the 2,000 square foot River Ridge Pavilion.

The program, called Research Experiences for Undergraduates, is a competitive national program to introduce young college students to the field of scientific research by providing them the chance to design, carry out, analyze, and present their own findings. The program at River Ridge began in 2022 is back this year and will continue into 2025. Nine students will live on the ranch for nearly a month while they look at the local environment, visit neighboring sites such as Sequoia Riverlands Trust’s Blue Oak Ranch and SCICON’S Circle Jnorris Ranch. They will then write up their proposals for study.

Students will work directly with faculty and land managers to design projects and field and laboratory experiments to track how changes in management and land use effect carbon content in soils and vegetation, as well as changes in native plant cover, biodiversity, particularly in terrestrial mammals, and rangeland productivity. Over the course of the project, students

will build upon the research of prior student teams to continually monitor and study changes in carbon emissions and storage, plant and animal biodiversity, and to develop complementary research agendas.

This conservation-focused research on working

lands in California will build upon previous student-led research projects on recovering ranch lands and contribute to improved understanding of long-term changes in vegetation cover, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and animal movement and use of habitat as a result of land repurposing. The research and student efforts will also be used to produce a protocol for easily implemented, affordable, and adaptive management and monitoring plans that can be implemented in other areas.

Donations to River Ridge Institute are encouraged and gladly accepted. For more information: info@riverridge.net; (559) 361-7453; www.river-ridge.net

River Ridge Ranch is located at 37675 Balch Park Road.