World-renowned scientists like Paul Ehrlich, Harold Mooney and Deborah Gordon are among the researchers who value the preserve and its contribution to that program. It's impossible to overrate the ability to do long-term work at a protected site located 10 minutes from my office. Yet, Cohen says, the ridge has a long list of challenges and needs, most related to money. Another 75 to 85 percent comes from endowment income, the rest from other sources. Still, facilities here remain primitive.
Research is conducted in a laboratory equipped with only the most rudimentary scientific equipment.
For a small fee, visiting researchers can use a seminar room, six-person bunkhouse and kitchen. Cohen would love to expand and update facilities. He is the only full-time staff member at the preserve. Yet Cohen says Jasper Ridge is blessed with riches that cannot be measured not just its natural beauty and diversity but also the dedication of hundreds of volunteers like Dengler who have donated time to cutting trails, sharing knowledge and lobbying for protections. For Dengler, it has been a lifelong gift, not a sacrifice.