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John Muir Institute of the Environment



 

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    Why are Latino forest workers exploited and how did the US federal government come to be one of the country's largest employers of immigrant labor? Join us on May 10 to hear author Brinda Sarathy speak about institutionalized racism, fragmented policy, and intra-ethnic exploitation in the West.

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    What does environmental devastation actually look like? On May 16 photographer Garth Lenz shares shocking photos of the Alberta Tar Sands mining project -- and the beautiful (and vital) ecosystems under threat.

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    Registration is now open for the Eleventh Annual California Higher Education Sustainability Conference, June 18 - 22, 2012, hosted by UC Davis. Register by no later than midnight, April 25 for a special discount rate.

Forest Biology Research Center

David Neale is leading the effort to building the newest collaboration in the John Muir Institute, the Forest Biology Research Center.

John Muir Institute of the Environment
Center for Watershed Sciences

California’s water management system is deteriorating—on both economic and environmental fronts. Only a broad integrative approach will reverse the decline, according to a new book co-authored by experts from the Center for Watershed Sciences.

How do floodplains benefit juvenile salmon? Who uses how much water in CA? Why is the Delta stressed out? What should we do with subsiding Delta islands? Where can we conserve more precious water resources? Check out the CaliforniaWaterBlog to find what our researchers have to say on these issues and more.

California has a complex, highly interconnected, and decentralized water system that is often beleaguered with a variety of misperceptions — or myths — about how the system works. This virtual tour explores some of the myths that plague the development of effective policies to manage one of the state’s most important natural resources.

Public Service Research Program

The Environmental Leaders Program creates transformative experiences for both graduate students and communities through civic engagement that addresses local environmental issues. This new UC Davis program facilitates place-based learning experiences for graduate students ("Environmental Leaders") and greater access to resources for communities.

Through translating research and providing technical advice, creating agency and community partnerships and public education programs, and teaching students to conduct outreach, this Environmental Outreach Program engages the university in society, helping to solve environmental problems

UC Davis Natural Reserve System

The Bodega Marine Reserve encompasses a remarkable diversity of habitats including mudflats, saltmarsh, dunes, coastal prairie, sandy beach, and rocky intertidal areas. The Bodega Marine Lab, located on site, provides well-equipped laboratory and housing facilities to support research and learning.

From poetry, to plant identification, to geology, to birds, reptiles and amphibians, there is something for everyone this spring and summer. NATURE OUTINGS offers a diverse schedule to help you experience Stebbins Cold Canyon reserve and continue to develop your relationship with the natural world.

Quail Ridge Reserve is home the word’s most extensive wildland wireless mesh networks. Not only does the system provide real-time location, physiological data and broad spectrum bioacoustic monitoring of wildlife, but the network provides the foundation for enhanced community/mobile wireless networks and a template for mobile, solar-powered communications systems in remote or disaster-stricken area.

Jepson Prairie Reserve

Since 2002 researchers have been studying one of the largest and healthiest populations of the California Tiger Salamander at Jepson Prairie Reserve. The reserve’s protected environment has allowed researchers to shed considerable light on the biology and terrestrial behavior of these endangered species.

Center for Affordable Technology for Small Water Systems

The Center for Affordable Technology for Small Water Systems provides technical assistance to help small, public water systems comply with minimum drinking water regulations, thereby increasing the availability of safe water for all Californians.

Environmental Justice Project

25 STORIES FROM THE CENTRAL VALLEY is one student’s master's thesis come to life with 25 stories of personal change and civic engagement. This campus-community project uses photos, theater, stories and sound to paint a vivid picture of the environmental problems faced by Central Valley communities as told by women leading the movement struggling to solve them.

Ruth Wilson Gilmore will provide the afternoon keynote presentation at this year’s Gender Matters Symposium. In her 2007 book, titled Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California, Gilmore expores the economic, racial, political, and social basis for the growth of prisons and how black women drawing upon traditions of social motherhood fought back.

Tahoe Environmental Research Center

The Otellini Visualization Lab, located at the prestigious Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC), is a state-of-the-art facility and the centerpiece of our efforts to both understand the complexities of Lake Tahoe and to educate and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. Fly through a 3-dimensional model of Lake Tahoe, dive under the water and climb inside the Earth to see the origin earthquakes.

Children's Environmental Science Day

This free community event for children (ages 8+) and their families includes hands-on science activities designed to create an awareness of the unique ecology of Lake Tahoe.

UC Davis Tahoe: State of the Lake Report 2009

The University of California, Davis, has monitored Lake Tahoe for nearly 40 years, amassing a unique record of change for one of the world’s most beautiful and vulnerable lakes. In the UC Davis Tahoe: State of the Lake Report, we summarize how natural variability and human activity have affected the lake’s clarity, physics, chemistry and biology.

Road Ecology Center
Center for Health and the Environment

Kent Pinkerton, director of the Center for Health and the Environment, was quoted in the Sacramento Bee article in February about the toxic residues that tobacco smoke leaves behind. "It's not only because of what children breathe in, but because the smoke deposits itself," Pinkerton says. "Children are very oral and they put things in their mouths, so they would expose themselves to toxic particles by ingestion as well."

The Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety brings together multidisciplinary experts from the Schools of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, and Agriculture and Environmental Sciences to focus attention and research on the problems of health and safety in Western agriculture.