Watch how our Younger Lagoon Natural Reserve is providing unparalleled opportunities for students to learn about the environment, implement field projects, obtain hands-on experience, and become actively involved in research and stewardship projects.
Scientists consider Año Nuevo Reserve one of the world’s premier living laboratories because of its unrivaled accessibility to a special colony of deep diving elephant seals and other migrating animals. Just 30 minutes from UC Santa Cruz, the natural reserve provides students with rare research experiences and serves as a hub for many international scientific collaborations, such as understanding how marine animals travel through geopolitical boundaries and how climate change is impacting the health of our oceans. The reserve’s unique partnership with California State Parks is further bolstered by public education tours about this critical research to more than 100,000 park visitors every year.
