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 |
Faerthen Felix |
 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.  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 Director | Senior Advisor/Faculty Director Emeritus |
Prof. Robert Rhew |
Prof. James W. Kirchner Assistant: Sarah Hertli |
| “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:
|