DEER CREEK CENTER
FOR FIELD RESEARCH & EDUCATION

Research

The Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion has long been recognized as one of North America’s most ecologically diverse regions. Biological richness, related to geological and topographical complexity and high density of free-flowing streams and rivers, has attracted wide attention from geologists, botanists, and ecologists. Strategically located in the heart of the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion, the Deer Creek Center is a gateway to the diverse habitats and ecosystems of this region of southwestern Oregon and northwestern California.
Located on the northern tip of one of the world’s largest contiguous sheets of ultramaphic parent rock, the DCC property and adjacent public lands are host to an array of representative serpentine plant communities, such as Jefferey pine savannah, serpentine barrens, and fens dominated by the carnivorous pitcher plant (Darlingtonia californica). Plant species endemic to the region, such as the rush-lilies (genus Hastingsia), the beautiful pink-flowered Kalmiopsis leachiana and Waldo gentian (Gentiana setigera) are well represented within habitats of botanically rich Eight Dollar Mountain, adjacent to DCC’s main campus. Other habitats within striking distance of DCC include, Azalea thickets, chaparral, mixed conifer-hardwood forests, oak woodlands, grasslands, meadows, and seasonal wetlands. There are two perennial streams flowing through the DCC property that provide habitat for at least eight fish species including anadromous Chinook and Coho salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey.


DCC is largely surrounded by public lands that provide excellent access to additional research sites. The property is bordered by a Bureau of Land Management Area of Critical Environmental Concern and the US Forest Service’s Squaw Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area, and is a short distance from the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and wild-and-scenic Illinois River. The property also sits directly on the edge of the area burned by the 2002 Biscuit Fire, a 200,000-hectare wildfire that was one of the West’s largest recorded fires. A large portion of the northern parcel of DCC property was burned in the fire and provides good examples of mixed intensity fire effects. This could become an important demonstration site for studies of post-fire recovery.

Examples of Recent Research at DCC:

• Scientists from Oregon State University’s Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, led by Robert Pabst, used DCC as a jump-off point for their research on forest recovery following the Biscuit Fire during the 2008 field season.
  
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  Dr. David Scholnick and his students (Pacific University, Biology) visited DCC during the 2008 field season to study the physiological responses of western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) infected with the hemoparasite, Plasmodium, that causes malaria in vertebrates.
  
• Drs. Susan Harrison (UC Davis, Environmental Science and Policy) and Ellen Damschen (Washington University, Dept. of Biology) used DCC as a base of operations during the 2007 field season for their study of environmental change in the Klamath-Siskiyou. They and their students have been resurveying vegetation transects that Robert Whittaker studied in 1949-51 to look for evidence of climate change and to determine if serpentine vegetation has undergone different changes than “normal” vegetation on diorite soils. Their research supported two Illinois Valley high school teachers who gained valuable research experience through the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Teachers Program.
  
• Kerissa Fucillo (2008 MS in Environmental Education, SOU) completed her thesis, an assessment of the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Teachers program, based on participation of Illinois valley high school teachers. Kerissa also established vegetation plots and curriculum for use by high school classes to learn field techniques for monitoring vegetation in response to environmental gradients.
  
• Keir Morse (2008 MS in Science, SOU) completed a survey of the flowering plants of Deer Creek Center. Keir identified over 600 plant species many of which he photographed and provided distribution information for the Oregon Flora Project.
  
  
• Dr. Erik Jules (Humboldt State University, Biology Dept.) has conducted research on plant community ecology, pattern and consequences biological invasions, and environmental history of the Klamath-Siskiyou region. Dr. Jules is co-founder of the Siskiyou Field Institute and has played a prominent role in establishing a field station at DCC.