The Blue Oak Ranch Reserve, a unit of the University of California Natural Reserve System, is an ecological reserve and biological field station in Santa Clara County, California. It is located on in the Diablo Range, northwest of Mount Hamilton, at elevation.
The land, part of the 19th century Mexican land grant of Rancho Cañada de Pala, was donated to the University of California on December 1, 2007 by the Blue Oak Ranch Trust, an anonymous benefactor.
Overnight accommodations for academic researchers and educational groups may be made by permission only.
Flora
Flora of Blue Oak Ranch Reserve includes: purple needle grass (Nassella pulchra) barley (Hordeum) bluegrass (Poa spp.) three-awn (Aristida spp.) melic (Melica sspspp wildrye (Elymus and Leymus spp.)
Invasive introduced species
yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) medusahead grass (Taeniatherum caput-medusae) Italian thistle (Carduus pycnocephalus) tocalote (Centaurea melitensis) Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
Plant communities
valley oak woodland
black oak woodland
coast live oak woodland
riparian forest
chamise chaparral
Diablan sage scrub
non-native annual grassland
wildflower field
native perennial grassland
Fauna
Fauna of Blue Oak Ranch Reserve includes: Western toad Pacific tree frog Pacific chorus frog red-legged frog California newt California tiger salamander Western pond turtle red-winged blackbird pied-billed grebe Canada goose American coot wood duck
Invasive fish
sunfish
largemouth bass
mosquitofish
See also
Quercus douglasii — Blue oak
California oak woodlands — a plant community within the ranch
California interior chaparral and woodlands — the plant community that the ranch is within California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion — ecoregion of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub Biome, that the ranch is within List of California native plants Restoration ecology