| News: This link opens the Whittel
Forest Fuel Reduction and Ecosystem Enhancement Plan
which was approved by the Board at its Oct. 26, 2005 meeting.
The
Whittell Forest and Wildlife Area is a research and teaching facility
of the University and Community College System of Nevada. The property
(˜2700 acres) was donated to the University System in 1959
by George Whittell. The Whittell Forest is located in the Carson
Range on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada ˜30 km south of
Reno, Nevada. It is 5 km west of Washoe Lake and 4 km northeast
of Lake Tahoe. Most of the property is in Little Valley at an elevation
of 1900-2500 m. Vegetation is dominated by Jeffrey pine forests
with an understory of bitterbrush and manzanita, lodgepole pine
forests, and subalpine dry meadows. The climate is semi-arid with
a long summer dry season, with most precipitation falling during
the winter in the form of snow. Franktown Creek drains the valley
into Washoe Lake. Access is through a locked gate and via a steep
dirt road by 4-wheel drive vehicle from May to November most years,
and by foot, skis, or snowshoes during the remainder of the year.
Recent research has focused on plant-animal
interactions involving seed-caching rodents
and birds and several species of pines and
shrubs, studies of vegetation decomposition
and nutrient cycling, pheromone production
by pine bark beetles, weather and climate,
geomorphology, and archaeology. We have limited
funding to support graduate student research
projects (see Research Opportunities).
We welcome off-campus scientists who need the
habitat types of the Whittell Forest. Research
proposals are reviewed by the Board of Control
as they are received.
Currently, research at Whittel Forest is
being conducted by the following faculty at
the University of Nevada, Reno:
• Stephen B. Vander Wall
• Dale W. Johnson
• Gary Blomquist
• Alan Gubanich
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