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The Hastings Natural History Reservation and other reserves in the UC Natural Reserve System are public trust lands set aside specifically for research and teaching. Sensitive monitoring equipment is set up on these sites, and the reserves offer unparalleled opportunities for the uninterrupted behavioral obser-vations that are essential to modern field studies. Public access for recreation is not compatible with these research and teaching uses; therefore, Hastings is not open to the general public.

Visitors must make arrangements in advance and sign liability release waivers at the reserve office upon arrival. Class use is generally restricted to the eastern reaches of Robertson Creek and School Hill. Research in this part of the reserve may be subject to occasional class visits. Research projects are generally conducted in areas away from the primary residential zones. Smoking is not allowed in the buildings or on the reserve due to fire danger. Vehicles must stay on maintained gravel roads and must park in designated parking areas. Recreational hunting and fishing are prohibited. Common hazards include poison oak, rattlesnakes, mountain lions, biting insects, and the potential presence of hantavirus and Lyme disease.

Limited housing and laboratory space restrict both the number and the types of research projects approved at Hastings. Researchers should submit written descriptions of their proposed research and must consult with the resident director before initiating their projects. Any manipulation of the plants, animals, or habitats at Hastings also requires prior permission from the resident director. It is the responsibility, and obligation, of individual investigators to obtain all appropriate state and federal collecting permits, as well as animal care and use protocols.

Researchers who plan to use radio telemetry on Hastings must check the current list of radio frequencies in use at Hastings. Contact the resident director to make sure the list is the most current before odering radiio tranmitters.

Some neighboring landowners allow access and limited field studies on their property. However, permission to use these adjoining and nearby properties must be arranged through the resident director and cooperating individual property director before work begins.

Finally, researchers are required to contribute copies of their maps, metadata on each data set, publicly accessable archival data, published papers, and reports of their investigations based on their use of Hastings. Of course, any use of archival data by future researchers on the site would require notification of the author(s) of the field data.