The garden also includes plantings of agave and yucca, and an invasive tree tobacco. Originally a part of the James Canal, a major irrigation canal that ran across the CSUB campus, this little pond has been used continuously since 1970 as a place for students and faculty to conduct studies, collect aquatic specimens, and give teaching demonstrations. It is one of very few non-farm ponds in the area and has a full complement of fish, frogs, invertebrates, and plants. School children who visit FACT learn about food chains and energy flow in a freshwater pond and get to look at algae and plankton. Equipment includes a 12.5 inch, f7 Newtonian reflector telescope.
Electrical power is available for recorders and electronic detectors.
The Station has been used as a research site by the California Institute of Technology and the California Department of Transportation to collect data on air pollution, fog formation, and chemicals carried by fog droplets. A water well without a pump, this installation is used solely for the purpose of monitoring the level of the water table at this location.