• Contact
  • Partners
  • Admin
    • Graphics
    • Planning Group
  • Search
  • About Us
  • Research
  • Education
  • Outreach
  • Resources
    • Art Program
    • Collections
    • Data & Monitoring
    • Photos
    • Publications
  • Plan Your Visit
    • Calendar
    • FAQs
    • Fees
    • Facilities
    • Location
    • Make a Reservation
    • Visitor Information
    • Volunteers
    • Waivers
  • Events
  • News
  • Give Now
  • Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sagehen Creek Field Station

UC Natural Reserve System

  • Contact
  • Partners
  • Admin
    • Graphics
    • Planning Group
  • Search
  • About Us
  • Research
  • Education
  • Outreach
  • Resources
    • Art Program
    • Collections
    • Data & Monitoring
    • Photos
    • Publications
  • Plan Your Visit
    • Calendar
    • FAQs
    • Fees
    • Facilities
    • Location
    • Make a Reservation
    • Visitor Information
    • Volunteers
    • Waivers
  • Events
  • News
  • Give Now

More About the Managers

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Location |  Make a reservation

Information about all Sagehen station managers and support staff (1951-2018) is included in the following timeline:

 

CSFRS Director/Station Manager, 2001-2020*Assistant Manager, 2001-2020*

Jeff Brown
sagehen@berkeley.edu

Faerthen Felix
ffelix@berkeley.edu

Jeff watches the Meadow fire explode in 2014.

Jeff and Faerthen managed Sagehen Creek Field Station with the assistance of Dan Sayler, the part-time maintenance person (Jeff also managed the Central Sierra Field Research Stations (CSFRS) properties and relationships in the North Fork of the American River). The Sagehen responsibility includes 22 buildings, the 9,000-acre Sagehen Experimental Forest, approximately 15,000 annual user days, and fund-raising.

This is not just another desk job! As a remote facility, there are few public services. While the station does have hard power and a phone line, these wires run through 8-miles of forest from Hobart Mills, resulting in predictable winter outages. The managers provide all other services, including water, septic, wildlife management, snow grooming and removal, dirt access road maintenance, seasonal propane heat and trash service, microwave internet, etc. Sagehen offers additional research support that includes environmental monitoring and metadata collection (via the online RAMS reservation system, Dendra, and our website).

Due to the managers’ efforts, the station itself is accessible by vehicle year round, but snowmobiles, OHVs, skis and mountain bikes are the preferred–and often only–means of accessing the watershed above the field station.

Jeff Brown leads out under the enormous north face of La Grande Casse, Vanoise massif, FR. 2016.

However, the Sagehen basin and adjacent watersheds include steep avalanche terrain where snow accumulation regularly exceeds 8-meters. There are ice-covered lakes in the area that pose a hazard to researchers. Wildfire is a constant fear. Tower climbing, seismology and environmental monitoring instrumentation generally involve technical rock climbing equipment and techniques.

As rock climbers, ski, mountain bike and whitewater guides, Swiftwater Rescue Technicians, Paramedic/EMTs, and avalanche forecasters intimately familiar with the local terrain and conditions, the managers provide backcountry guiding services and consultation for managing researcher wildland risk. Jeff and Faerthen are also occasionally tasked with consulting and/or accompanying scientists for complementary research in the Alps.

 *Resident at Sagehen from April, 2001 to June, 2020.
Faculty DirectorSenior Advisor/Faculty Director Emeritus

Prof. Robert Rhew
Depts. of Geography & Environmental
Science, Policy & Management
539 McCone Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720 USA
(510)642-3903
rrhew@berkeley.edu
geography.berkeley.edu/people/regular-faculty/robert-rhew/

Prof. James W. Kirchner
Professor of the Physics of Environmental Systems, ETH Zürich
ETH Zentrum, CHN F50.3, CH-8092 Zürich
Phone +41 44 632 8018
kirchner@ethz.ch
website

Assistant: Sarah Hertli
ETH Zentrum, CHN G50.3
Phone +41 44 633 6043
sarah.hertli@env.ethz.ch

“Although trace gases constitute less than 1% of the composition of the atmosphere, they are compounds that regulate the Earth’s greenhouse effect, the balance of stratospheric ozone, and most of the chemical reactions in the atmosphere. In our trace gas biogeochemistry lab, we seek to quantify the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of environmentally important trace gases and to identify the physical and biological controls on those fluxes.”Current research areas:

    • Watershed hydrology & geochemistry
    • Geomorphology and earth surface processes
    • Analysis of environmental data

 

Primary Sidebar

Sagehen News

  • 2020 summer updates
  • MAPS bird banding
  • Covid-19 silver linings...
  • Sagehen Collections Digitization Continues
  • Sagehen Fire Updates

Sagehen Art

  • Sagehen Artist-In-Residency (AIR) program
  • The Sagehen Archive at the NMA CA+E
  • Possible Thematic Collaboration Areas (& Provocative Quotes)
  • ArtSciConverge at Sagehen project cards
  • Culture of Fire

Sagehen TV

  • Sagehen wolverine sightings
  • Recent KGO-TV news about Sagehen
  • June 8, 2016: Sagehen fire caught on Peavine firecam
  • Hwy-89 Wildlife Undercrossing Dedication Ceremony
  • Sagehen BioBlitz

Sagehen Forest Project

  • Unintended Consequences in Western Forests
  • Future Forests partnership
  • Nano: Waldbrände Kalifornien
  • Design Emergancy
  • It's finally happening!

Footer

Who Are We?

  • Philosophy
  • Education
  • Research
  • Outreach
  • Partners
  • History
  • FAQs

Plan Your Visit

  • Make a Reservation
  • Visitor Information
  • Contact Us
  • Location
  • Facilities
  • Waivers
  • Fees

Resources

  • Data & Metadata
  • Planning Group
  • Publications
  • Species Lists
  • Collections
  • Photos
  • Events

Site Footer

© 2021 - UC Regents · All Rights Reserved · Contact