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History of Hastings 1940's to 2003.
Mark R. Stromberg

    In October of 1937, University of California President Robert Sproul wrote to the Hastings family that the Regents accepted their September offer of the Hastings Ranch in Monterey County. This original letter of offer included a plan for the reserved land to be managed by the University of California:
   “1. To preserve an area in California’s coastal region where native plants and animals ma live undisturbed by human use of the land.
     2. To provide for continuous study of vertebrate animals, especially their numbers and relationships to their surroundings, as these relationships change in the annual cycle and from year to year”.
     As such, this was the first rough plan for this new “reservation” and it included terms of the original arrangement between Professor Joseph Grinnell, the Director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California at Berkeley, and the Hastings. Grinnell made several trips to the Hastings Ranch to visit the Hastings family. In November 1937, Grinnell made field notes during a trip to the Hastings Ranch that included a brief passage describing goals-
"..this project may be said to involve “agriculture in reverse”; for the purpose is to observe the sequence of biotic events on an area long grazed and in part cultivated, toward recovery of “primitive” conditions of flora and fauna--though exact, original balance can of course never now be expected...Large oaks are scattered over these fields, which will now be allowed to go “back to Nature”.
      For the first years, the goals at Hastings were to “make general surveys of environments available to vertebrate animals, study vegetation, soil, exposure, weather, and climate and relations between these”. Accordingly, records of presence and activity of animals were started, as were collections of plants, insects and mammals. Maps and photographs were kept on file, along with diaries of bird abundances. Jean Linsdale was hired to be the resident naturalist. He lived with his family in the Ranch House. Use levels were minimal (<500 user-days/year), and residential use at Hastings varied from about 2-5 researchers from 1930s to the 1960s.
     A small inholding within the Ranch was used by the private Carmel Valley Ranch School, which built the “Schoolhouse” in 1929. The Hastings family’s only daughter, Fanny, attended this college preparatory school and later married Tom Arnold. Fanny and her family maintained close relationships with Hastings students and staff and continued to make significant contributions to Hastings for many years. The Arnold family continues a close association with the Hastings Reservation.
     In 1962 Dr. John Davis replaced Linsdale as the resident Research Zoologist. John and his wife Betty Davis, a parasitologist, lived in the Red House, and later, the School House.
     During the 1960’s, a new reserve position of Research Ecologist/Botanist was created by the Hastings family. In 1962, Dr. Keith White was hired by MVZ as the Research Ecologist and lived with his family in the Ranch House. Between 1965 and 1992, Jim Griffin replaced White. Jim retired in 1992. The Research Ecologist position at Hastings was eliminated in 1993, making this house available for outside researcher housing.
     In 1963, the Hastings family constructed a 2-bedroom frame and stucco house for the resident maintenance worker. In 1991, this house was converted to research housing and the full-time maintenance worker now lives off-site.
      On October 20, 1970 the Hastings Reserve was officially included in what has become the Natural Reserve System, a system of 35 reserves scattered throughout the state administered from the UC Office of the President. Significant support for reserve stewards, reserve management and facility improvement has been provided to the Hastings Reservation by the NRS. NRS reserves are dedicated specifically to research and education and include representative areas of the natural communities of California.
     Walt Koenig replaced John Davis after the latter’s retirement in 1982 as the Research Zoologist. Koenig, who did his Ph.D. work at Hastings while living in the Red House now lives in the School House with his family. During this time Koenig, along with his students and colleagues, have maintained a long-term study of the behavior and ecology of acorn woodpeckers on the Reserve. Janis Dickinson moved to the Reserve in 1988 and started a study of the behavior and genetics of western bluebirds; she is currently paid part-time by MVZ as an Assistant Research Zoologist.
     In 1988, a new position of Reserve Manager/Resident Director was created and filled by Mark Stromberg, who assumed the administrative duties that had previously been performed by the Research Ecologist. Stromberg lives in the Hallisey House, a residence on 4 acres built in 1969 and located adjacent to the entrance of the Reserve which was purchased with the help of Fanny Arnold and the NRS.
     From the late 1980’s to mid-1990’s, Fanny Arnold donated significant new funds. This support made it possible to acquire new land, several new buildings, and renovate several others. With support from the campus and NRS, modern, adequate wells, water distribution and storage systems were installed, roads were resurfaced, culverts were enlarged and modern heating and cooling systems were installed in most occupied buildings.
     Hastings is used by about 300-400 different people each year, who spend about 5,000 "user-days" in the various housing units. Over 50 scientific studies are now underway at Hastings.