James Reserve

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The founders' rock in James Reserve

The James Reserve a unit of the UC Natural Reserve System, is an ecological reserve and biological field station located in a remote wilderness area of the San Jacinto Mountains in Riverside County, California, United States, located on 29 acres at 5,300' asl (Latitude: 33deg 48' 30" N Longitude: 116deg 46' 40" W). The land on which the James reserve is located was donated to the University of California in 1966 by Harry and Grace James.

In addition to acting as a protected natural area for teaching and research in the sciences, it is also available as a testing ground for various technology related research projects including the Terrestrial Ecology Observing Systems Laboratory. The primary research group using the James Reserve at this time is the Center for Embedded Network Sensing. Over the internet, researchers, students and the interested public may unobtrusively visit and view nature via a webcam observatory, which includes an interactive robotic camera. Devices in the outdoor laboratory allow non-intrusive, around-the-clock monitoring.

The Director of the Reserve is Michael P. Hamilton, Ph.D., an ecologist and conservation biologist, and a member of the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists™. He is currently serving as scientific advisor for the Society for Conservation GIS, an organization with 500 members worldwide that trains and supports academic and NGO professionals involved in nature protection and conservation biology using remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies.

Overnight accommodations for researchers and school groups may be made for the on-site Trailfinders Lodge. Visitation is by permission only.