BURNS PIÑON RIDGE RESERVE
University of California, Irvine
SAFETY AND RULES
Safety and First Aid
Copies of the Emergency Information Burns sheet (pdf link) are located in multiple locations in the main house. It references the location of a first aid kit in a labeled desk drawer in the kitchen.
In a life-threatening emergency, call 911.
Local Fire: 760-228-6380; Local Police: 760-365-2364; Poison Control: 415-643-3256
In a non-life threatening emergency, please report safety-related incidents, questions, or concerns to reserve management personnel.
Burns Reserve Director: Peter Bowler pabowler@uci.edu, 949-701-6114
UCI-NATURE Administrative Director: Megan Lulow mlulow@uci.edu, 949-500-8754
Burns Reserve Steward: Brad Berger 760-228-0316
The reserve can be a harsh environment with broad ranges in temperature and weather conditions. Excessive sun, heat and dehydration are the foremost factors to consider in the summer months. Freezing temperatures, high winds, as well as excessive sun should be considered in the winter. Use appropriate clothing and footwear to protect yourself from exposure, unstable footing, and sharp vegetation such as cacti and yuccas. Rattlesnakes, bees, scorpions, and other potentially hazardous animals may be encountered in the reserve. When hiking on the reserve please inform reserve management or a personal contact of your itinerary and check back in upon returning.
Rules and Regulations for Reserve Users
Please note that if your application is approved, you will be required to abide by the following policies. Failure to comply may lead to denial or termination of reserve use.
Administrative:
– The UCI and NRS are committed to the principles found within their Field Station Code of Conduct and require anyone visiting the reserves to comply with them. These will be addressed during your application process and a pdf is also available here. Responding to sexual harassment can be found here.
– Anyone not employed by the University of California must sign a WAIVER OF LIABILITY, ASSUMPTION OF RISK, AND INDEMNITY AGREEMENT and a MEDIA RELEASE prior to reserve use. It is the responsibility of the group leader to see that each member of the group has signed these two agreements BEFORE visiting the reserve. For visitors under 18 years old, the minor’s parent or guardian must sign these two agreements. These agreements shall not be altered.
– Users must obtain permission from the reserve management before visiting the site. Please fill out an application for approval through RAMS
(Reserve Application Management System).
– Coordinate field trip activities and research site locations with reserve management prior to your visit.
– UC instructors who are sponsoring a UC class trip to a reserve should note that they are solely responsible for enforcing the University’s policies on waiver and release agreements, and are expected to obtain and maintain signed forms prior to the class trip.
– Provide copies of all required state and federal permits before entering the reserve.
Environmental:
– Fires are not allowed on the Reserve.
– Domestic animals or firearms are not allowed on any reserve and exceptions require written staff approval.
– Only foot travel is permitted on the reserve. There are many unmarked trails and it is recommended that you use these existing trails to move about the area. Please do not climb steep slopes lacking trails, as this causes damage to plant and animal life and contributes to erosion.
– Do not remove, collect, prune, or disturb plants, animals, cultural artifacts, or any natural material without prior consent of reserve management.
– Park vehicles in designated areas only and do not drive off established roads. Only use established turn-arounds.
– Do not trespass on neighboring property. In most cases the boundaries of the reserve are not marked, so we recommend you keep a map on hand when moving about the reserve. If you are unsure what side of the property line you are on, go back to a location you feel certain about. Note that several higher peaks are near the edge of the reserve, but beyond the property line (including the 4311-ft mountain with antennae on it just north of the main house); please do not climb them.
Facilities:
– For the security of the reserve it is imperative that the gate be closed and locked at all times. If there are two locks on the chain that secures the gate, be sure that the locks are daisy-chained together so that either lock can be removed to gain access to the reserve. The number dials must be turned away from the combination in order for the lock to close and lock.
– Please clean up after yourself. All users are requested to leave the land and any facilities at least as clean as you found them. A Cleanup checklist (word document) is provided at the main house to sign off on prior to your departure.
– The Reserve has no trash collection service. Please take your garbage with you at the end of your stay. If this is not possible, you may leave sealed, bagged garbage in the bins in the car port.
Education and Research:
– Acknowledgment in Publications – All publications resulting from the use of any NRS reserve must acknowledge the University of California and the specific reserve at which the research was conducted. Please use the specified language provided in the NRS Acknowledgement Form, (link or pdf) available from the reserve manager or the NRS Web site (https://ucnrs.org).
– Submission of Metadata – For data sets based on work at NRS sites, we are requesting that researchers fill out a form describing each data set (e.g., title of the data set, the investigator’s name, mailing address, e-mail address, an abstract, keywords, and temporal/spatial coverage of the data). Please enter such metadata online at the NRS website (http://www.ucnrs.org). For ongoing multi-year studies, researchers need to submit a metadata database entry at the end of the second year of such a study and, again, upon completion of the study. Failure to deposit both the bibliographic and metadata information as requested may lead to automatic denial of future Use Applications.
– Submission of Bibliographic Data – For work utilizing wholly or in part an NRS reserve or its facilities, researchers will need to provide the reserve management and the NRS Information Management System (http://www.ucnrs.org) with the full bibliographic citation (whether for a report, thesis, book, research paper, conference proceedings, etc.) within six months of publication. We ask that you include the NRS reserve name as one of the “key words” in every manuscript prepared. In addition, researchers are required to provide paper copies of all publications or an electronic version (PDF file) to the reserve manager.
– Provide coordinates or appropriate geographic files of field research locations to reserve management for maintaining use records for future users.