ABOUT
Area: 160 acres
Elevation
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The Paradise Reserve is within the red rectangle. Cielo Creek is on the left and Paradise Creek is on the right. The Snyder Trail is the white line above and to the left.
The Paradise Reserve was established in 2005 by biologists Cristina Sandoval and Kevin Lafferty. Through Cristina's research on Timema walking sticks, she learned that not much was known about the natural history of the Santa Ynez Mountains. The insect she studied was common in the chaparral, but turned out to be an undescribed species. To protect the Santa Ynez mountaints and its many species and diverse natural habitats will require knowledge of basic natural history.
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Since its inception, the Paradise Reserve has attracted research from many fields and supported studies on banana slugs, ticks and Lyme disease, bird diversity, moss diversity, and insect diversity.
TEAM
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Cristina Sandoval
Owner
My research focuses on ecology and evolution. More recently I have been studying the wildlife of the Santa Ynez Mountains. I work as the director of the Coal Oil Point Reserve, at UCSB. Click for publications.
Kevin Lafferty
Owner
I am a Senior Ecologist with US Geological Survey at UCSB, and my research focuses in ecology, particularly in the field of parasites and food webs. Click for publications.