The 85 acre Robert J. Bernard Biological Field Station (BFS) is located on the north side of Foothill Boulevard between College Avenue and Mills Avenue in Claremont, California. The BFS provides facilities and ecological communities for high-quality teaching and research in biological, environmental, and other sciences to the students, faculty, and staff of the Claremont Colleges. It may also be used by members of other academic institutions and by public groups for educational purposes. The BFS is a member of the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS).
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The BFS is a natural laboratory in which the scientific study of natural processes takes place. It is unusual for college students to have a field station within walking distance of the rest of their campus. Although the facility is located in the center of the city, the fence allows projects to be conducted without outside disturbance. The diversity of habitats, both natural and man-made, provides a wealth of possibilities for teaching and experimentation.
Students in introductory and upper level courses at the five undergraduate colleges (Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, Pomona College, and Scripps College) use the facility. It is a key part of the new Environmental Analysis Program at the Colleges. It is integral to many regular courses and provides the opportunity for independent research projects. The BFS has been used by courses in art, anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, and English as a Second Language. Pitzer’s Leadership in Environmental Education Partnership (LEEP) program brings many elementary schoolchildren to the station each year. The US Geological Survey maintains a monitoring station on the grounds and both long and short-term research projects are carried out by faculty from the Claremont Colleges and from other institutions. Although the main purpose of the Station is as a teaching and research facility for the Claremont Colleges’ students, its contributions to the greater community have been substantial. Since its beginning in 1976, the Station has been visited by many Claremont schoolchildren, Scouts, and community groups. Since this land formed part of the home village site of the Gabrieleno-Tongva people, the Station provides an area for cultural and ethnobotanical study. This site also contains some of the natural landscape of Claremont looking much as it did before development. It therefore provides opportunities to investigate natural relationships and the effects on them of surrounding development, as well as being of historical interest.
The BFS contains native plant communities mixed with an array of drought-tolerant Old World species that have become naturalized in southern California. The average annual rainfall in Claremont is about 15 inches and the BFS is located on an alluvial fan which means the soil is fast-draining. Because of these factors, organisms are adapted to low water availability and the landscape is brown and dry much of the year.
Approximately two-thirds of the Station is coastal sage scrub. This ecosystem was never common and has largely disappeared due to development. Estimates are that less than 15% of it remains. It is part of the Mediterranean Biome. Coastal sage scrub consists mostly of small to medium shrubs which are adapted to winter rains and long, dry summers, and annuals which complete their life cycle in the spring. There are grasslands in the south and the east. The northeastern portion was at one time a citrus grove and is now a grassland. Oaks were planted along the road to the now-disused Infirmary, which was built in the 1930s to house ill students from Pomona College. An open-air outdoor classroom has been constructed next to it, and both native and exotic species grow in the area around these buildings. A natural stand of oak-sycamore woodland can be found in the “neck” where water seeps up along an earthquake fault. A riparian forest has grown up around the artificial lake.
The field station website contains lists and photographs of many species found there. Some of the common plants are California sagebrush, buckwheat, yerba santa, white sage, golden currant, and redberry, along with poison oak. The lake is a refuge for Western Pond Turtles displaced by development. The BFS houses a number of Species of Special Concern such as the Coastal Cactus Wren, Nevin’s Barberry, and the Silvery Legless Lizard. Surveys of the organisms are still underway. So far, over 170 species of birds, 27 species of mammals, 17 species of reptiles and amphibians, over 250 species of higher plants, 40 species of lichen (one new to science--Lecanora munzii ), and many hundreds of species of insects and other invertebrates have been identified. Recently, a mite (a new, undescribed Parateneriffia species: J. Exp. Biol. 213: 2551-2556) with exceptional heat tolerance and speed was discovered here.
In the 1920s, Pomona College was under strong pressure to expand. Rather than do that and reduce the benefits of a small, liberal arts institution to Pomona’s students, President Blaisdell conceived the idea of forming a group of small colleges that would fund some facilities in common. His vision inspired Ellen Browning Scripps to buy 250 acres of land and donate it for educational use. This land underlies parts of the present colleges, the School of Theology, and the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Some of the land was sold. Some is leased to the Claremont Golf Course. None of the plans for building on the remaining 85 acres succeeded, and gradually this land came to be used as an informal teaching facility. In 1975, there was a proposal to sell this portion of the Scripps Trust to developers. In order to prevent this, Donald McKenna raised the money necessary to buy the land from the Trust. The donation also paid for fencing the area and for construction of pHake Lake (1978), and provided a small endowment. In 1980, the facility was officially opened and named in honor of Robert J. Bernard who had been involved in the development of the colleges since the beginning of the Group Plan.
In Robert Bernard's book about the history of the Claremont Colleges, “An Unfinished Dream”, he states:“A tour of the property readily convinces visitors of the importance of keeping such a beautiful expanse of land, shrubs, and trees for scientific purposes.” However, the future of the Station is uncertain. In 2001, the Claremont Consortium agreed not to build on the central portion for 50 years. Since then, Harvey Mudd College has purchased the western 11.4 acres for future development, and will sell half of this to Claremont Graduate University for their expansion plans. There is no agreement to preserve any of the rest. In fall 2010, Pitzer College proposed purchasing 14 acres to the east of the temporarily protected portion with the intention of renovating the Infirmary and establishing a new institute centered there. The area would be added to the habitat that is temporarily preserved. This proposal has not yet gained approval from the consortium. The Friends of the Bernard Biological Field Station (FBBFS) produce newsletters which include udpates on the situation and information on the plants and animals, as well as on other items of interest.