Angelo Coast Range Reserve

This 4,336-acre reserve nestled on the South Fork of the Eel River encompasses four aquatic and at least 26 terrestrial habitat types, including redwood groves, mixed conifer/deciduous forests, meadows, several types of chaparral, and the state’s largest virgin Douglas-fir forest community. Olympic salamanders, flying squirrels, black bears, and federally threatened northern spotted owls are among the old-growth inhabitants. The reserve also protects four undisturbed watersheds, among them the six-square-mile Elder Creek watershed. These pristine aquatic ecosystems support salmon, steelhead trout, river otters, and Pacific giant salamanders.

Programmatically, Angelo is a vital hub for long-term ecological field research, critical zone science, conservation, and hands-on field education, while expanding its role in regional stewardship, youth outreach, and collaborative planning for wildfire resilience and ecosystem restoration. Highlights of some of our past and ongoing research projects include:

• Eel River food webs, productivity, and effects of disturbance by scouring winter floods and invasive species (bullfrogs and Sacramento pikeminnow) which threaten native yellow-legged frogs and native salmonids.
• Eel River Critical Zone Observatory
• Effects of river productivity on terrestrial consumers addressing linkages between river communities and surrounding uplands in the old-growth forest watershed.
• Impacts of fine riverbed sediments on food webs supporting the growth of juvenile steelhead.