San Joaquin Biosphere Reserve

San Joaquin Biosphere Reserve
San Joaquin Experimental Range
Photo of rolling hills studded with trees A wooded hillside in the San Joaqin Biosphere Reserve
Location	Madera County, California, USA
Nearest city	Fresno, California
Coordinates
Area	1,832 hectares (7.07 sq mi)
Established	1976
Governing body	United States Forest Service

The San Joaquin Biosphere Reserve (established 1976) is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve located on the western slopes of the central Sierra Nevada mountains Madera County, California, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Fresno. This biosphere reserve represents the California steppe and California woodlands with blue oak, interior live oak. and digger pine.

The reserve encompasses the U.S. Forest Service's San Joaquin Experimental Range, established in 1934 to investigate resource and animal husbandry problems associated with maintaining a commercial cattle herd on a year-round basis on the foothill rangelands. Today, long-term records on livestock gains and herbage yield and utilization are available. Parts of the range have served as a Research Natural Area, protected from fire and ungrazed by domestic livestock since 1934. Remaining portions of the range have been grazed by various classes of livestock during different seasons. Some range units have been modified through the application of fertilizers. Prescribed burning has been used in some units for forage improvement.

A cowherd and facilities at the experimental range also provide opportunities for students to gain practical experience in the commercial cattle industry.

References

This article incorporates text from an open source work, under CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0:

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Forest Service.