The course, now in its 30th successful year, is held at Sagehen Creek Field Station, 15 miles north of Lake Tahoe, California, and 45 minutes from the Reno Airport in Nevada. The station combines a beautiful natural setting with excellent research and teaching facilities, free wireless internet, and hearty catered meals. Sagehen Creek is steps away from the teaching facility and provides an outstanding on-site laboratory to illustrate concepts taught in the course.
FEES & REGISTRATION
The price of the course includes all meals and refreshments from Sunday dinner through Friday lunch, served at the field station, and digital copies of course materials and paper copies of field trip guides and field exercises. Participants can stay in cabins at Sagehen or pitch a tent in the woods nearby (same rate of $30/night either way) or commute from hotels in Truckee (20 minute drive, last few miles down a well-maintained dirt road).
Fees are listed below:
Regular registration (after 31 May): $2450. ($2600 including on-site lodging)
Early-bird registration (by 31 May): $2250. ($2400 including on-site lodging)
Registration for the 2025 course will open in January.
You can use your credit card for the convenient online registration process. Government purchase orders accepted, but not preferred. Vendor is UC Regents Berkeley, Federal Employee ID: 94-6002123.
Note: Course credits from UC Extension are no longer included. Participants saw no need, so we reduced the cost imposed on all participants.
CANCELLATIONS, REFUNDS, AND SUBSTITUTIONS
A cancellation by June 15 will receive a full refund minus $500. A cancellation after June 15 will receive a full refund minus $500 if a replacement student can be found, but no refund if no replacement is found. Most years we have a waiting list, so replacements can usually be found given sufficient notice. Substitutions are accepted and encouraged. By substitutions, we mean keeping the registration spot but substituting a new person’s name, without any refund or other change in billing. Substitutions do not incur any fees or administrative time for us, so there is no charge for them.
In the unfortunate event that the course must be canceled due to unforeseen circumstances, including but not limited to wildfire, smoke, COVID or other public health concerns, participants have the option to ‘roll over’ their registration to the next year’s course at no charge. (Please confirm your intention to “roll over” registration by December 31 of the course year.) We hope we don’t have to cancel the course, and if we do, we hope you can simply “roll over” to the following year. If you do not wish to roll over your registration to the following year, you can receive a refund minus an administrative fee of $500, which is unfortunately necessary due to the high administrative costs of processing refunds – which requires establishing you as a ‘vendor’ in the system and multiple approvals, in addition to credit card fees. Please note that this $500 administrative fee also applies in the case that you decide to roll over your registration and later decide to cancel (e.g., you will receive a refund for your registration minus the $500 administrative fee).
TRAVEL & LOGISTICS
Please note, cell service is out-of-reach at the field station, but wireless internet is available via a slow T-1 line. We encourage everyone to bring a laptop for accessing readings, lecture slides, and course spreadsheet exercises.
For those flying to Reno Airport we provide a pickup from the airport at 6 PM on Sunday, August 18 and an airport drop-off at 4 PM on Friday, August 23, at no extra cost. Please plan your flights accordingly. We only stop at the airport; please do not ask us to deliver you to other destinations in Reno or elsewhere. Note that Sagehen Field Station is remote, behind a locked gate, down a long dirt road. No public transport or even taxi service reaches the station. Travel options from Truckee (closest town, about 20-30 minute drive south of Sagehen) to Reno Airport are limited and expensive. No ride service options exist unless arrangements are made well in advance.
For travelers within California-Nevada, we will send a participant list for carpool arrangements in early summer.
Note: Course credits from UC Extension are no longer included. Participants saw no need, so we reduced the cost imposed on all participants. The course is self-supporting; unfortunately, no fellowships are available.