The Field Stations Program provides:

• protected lands and facilities for day-use or overnight field trips, and
• a campus-based conservation lecture series for university classes.

Assistance for class visits varies by field station, and can include an introduction to the field station by reserve staff, guided tours, and web-based virtual tours and access to real-time data. Additionally, the FSP staff is currently developing reserve-based summer classes for university students.

Fieldtrips

Students can fully experience an outdoor classroom during fieldtrips to the FSP sites, as each field station is equipped with facilities (classroom, dormitory, and kitchen) so that educators can work with students before and/or after their site exploration to complete correlating activities.

Flora and fauna at each site vary a great deal; please refer to the FSP site fact sheets for details regarding vegetation and habitats at each of the following sites:

• Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve
• Sky Oaks Field Station
• Fortuna Mountain Research Reserve
• Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve

Fieldtrip participants are allowed access to site trails and facilities; docent-guided tours regarding natural history, local ecology, and ongoing research are also available upon request.

To arrange for a fieldtrip at one of the four sites, please complete the online FSP Fieldtrip Application. You may also phone 619-594-0580 for a paper version of the fieldtrip application.

Virtual Tours

Real-time Data Access

Please refer to our Real-Time Ecological Monitoring Observatory (REMO) section for specific information.

Courses and Environmental Programs

FIPSE. The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) is an exchange program for both undergraduate and graduate students between San Diego State University and three European Universities: Universität Bayreuth (Germany), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain), and Universidade Téicica de Lisboa (Portugal). Additional information is available at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/fipse/index.html.

Lectures

Faculty affiliated with the FSP have recently brought field stations and global change technology into university classes to enhance ecology learning opportunities.

Specifically, students are now able to view real-time sensor network data from state-of-the-art global change technology and meteorological instruments at field stations - while sitting in their campus classroom - thanks to several National Science Foundation sponsored grants such as the Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI), Field Stations and Marine Laboratories (FSML), and Information Technology Research (ITR) awards.

Real-time data used by involved projects is available to researchers and students - and current networks are established at the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve, the Sky Oaks Field Station, SDSU's main campus, and several other sites in California, Alaska, and Mexico.

Weather and atmospheric data may be augmented and compared with data from ongoing biological monitoring programs, including surveys of insects, birds, amphibians, and small mammals.

Additionally, collaborating researchers from UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography have added sensors to tower instruments that add data for seismological and watershed modeling to the databases.