The NRS is a Universitywide program administered under the auspices of the President of the University and the Vice President of Agriculture and Natural Resources. A small staff in the system-wide NRS office coordinates acquisition and legal, budgetary, and environmental planning aspects of the system. It also prepares fundraising proposals, information materials, and uniform use standards, and assists in the preparation of resource inventories for each reserve. A University-wide NRS Advisory Committee advises the President and his staff on the activities and status of the NRS, reviews existing and prospective reserves, and proposes Universitywide policies and priorities. Individual reserves are assigned to one of the University's eight general campuses for daytoday administration, maintenance, and management by a faculty reserve manager in consultation with a management advisory committee.
Some reserves have a full time resident staff.
The NRS represents a unique subset of California's ecosystems across 12 ecological regions in the state. Short and long-term studies are carried out over a range of ecological, environmental, and natural resource management issues in order to better understand and manage these and other sites across the state, nation, and world. While providing for protection of examples of many California habitats, selection of reserves is guided chiefly by the necessity to meet teaching and research needs by faculty and students from all UC campuses and many other educational institutions. Scientific criteria for reserve selection include habitat diversity, degree of disturbance, and habitat significance. Sites not currently included in the NRS or comparable programs are prime candidates for selection.