Bernard Field Station

The 85 acre Robert J. Bernard Biological Field Station (BFS) is located on the north side of Foothill Boulevard between College Avenue and Mills Avenue in Claremont, California. The BFS provides facilities and ecological communities for high-quality teaching and research in biological, environmental, and other sciences to the students, faculty, and staff of the Claremont Colleges. It may also be used by members of other academic institutions and by public groups for educational purposes. The BFS is a member of the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS). It was named after Claremont Colleges president Robert J. Bernard.

Mission statement

The mission statement of the Bernard Field Station, taken from the station's website, is the following:
"To provide facilities and ecological communities for high-quality teaching and research experiences in the biological, environmental, and other sciences, to the students, faculty, and staff of the Claremont Colleges."
Implied in the BFS mission is that this community resource exists and is valued for its pedagogic and ecological benefit to the Claremont Colleges and larger Claremont community.

Use

The BFS is a natural laboratory in which the scientific study of natural processes takes place. It is unusual for college students to have a field station within walking distance of the rest of their campus. Although the facility is located in the center of the city, the fence allows projects to be conducted without outside disturbance. The diversity of habitats, both natural and man-made, provides a wealth of possibilities for teaching and experimentation.

Educational programs

Students in introductory and upper-level courses at the five undergraduate colleges (Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, Pomona College, and Scripps College) use the facility. More specifically, the following programs are affiliated with the station: Harvey Mudd College Biology, Keck Science Department of Scripps, Pitzer, and Claremont McKenna Colleges, Pitzer College Environmental Analysis, Pomona College Biology, Pomona College Environmental Analysis, California Botanic Garden. The station is integral to many regular courses within these programs, and provides the opportunity for independent research projects. Additionally, the BFS has been used by courses in art, anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, and English as a Second Language. Pitzer's Leadership in Environmental Education Partnership (LEEP) program brings many elementary schoolchildren to the station each year. The US Geological Survey maintains a monitoring station on the grounds and both long and short-term research projects are carried out by faculty from the Claremont Colleges and from other institutions. Although the main purpose of the Station is as a teaching and research facility for the Claremont Colleges’ students, its contributions to the greater community have been substantial. Since its beginning in 1976, the Station has been visited by many Claremont schoolchildren, Scouts, and community groups. Since this land formed part of the home village site of the Gabrieleno- people, the Station provides an area for cultural and ethnobotanical study. This site also contains some of the natural landscape of Claremont looking much as it did before development. It therefore provides opportunities to investigate natural relationships and the effects on them of surrounding development, as well as being of historical interest.

2015-16 use statistics

The Robert J. Bernard Field Station Annual Report presents the following use statistics for the 2015–16 academic year:

1. Gathered from 5,811 days of monitoring, on average, more than 15 people use the resources of the BFS each day.

2. 29 courses at the Claremont Colleges used the field station as a part of their course curriculum, providing hands-on educational experiences to approximately 855 students.

3. 28 research projects affiliated with the Claremont Colleges were conducted at the BFS. 5 of which were senior thesis projects, and faculty published four articles relating to research conducted at the BFS.

4. The Leadership in Environmental Education Partnership (LEEP) through Pitzer College brought over 150 fifth and sixth graders to learn about Southern California ecology.

5. The BFS was the location for the third annual BFS Earth Day Event, where over 100 people from the community visited the BFS for celebratory and educational opportunities.

6. Outside of the Claremont Colleges, the BFS hosted four classes from other institutions including Cal Poly Pomona, CSU Fullerton, and Pasadena City College. Additionally, the BFS provided resources for 8 research projects from UC Riverside, Arizona State University, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Davis, CSU Fullerton, and York University.

7. The BFS is primarily maintained by volunteers. In the 2015–2016 academic year, over 75 volunteers participated in the volunteer program, averaging out to about 290 volunteer hours. The majority of volunteer work involves removing invasive plants and clearing up overgrown trails.