California Transect
ENVS 303/303L
Spring 2016
Division of Science & Environmental Policy
California State University Monterey Bay
ENVS 303/303L
DESCRIPTION OF COURSE
California Transect is an outdoor, field immersion course that gives participants the
opportunity to study California's unique ecosystems in an experiential, interdisciplinary,
and exciting manner. During the course, students have the opportunity to examine the
geology, hydrology, ecology, economic, and policy issues of California in a case studies
framework. Particular emphasis will be placed on human impacts on California
watersheds. The Transect consists of two parts: a spring semester, classroom-based
course covering California's scientific, cultural, and political history, followed by a two
week outdoor immersion course applying this knowledge in a real-world setting of
interdisciplinary science and social science interactions. The region to be covered is a
“transect” across California that begins on the Central Coast, circles the Central /
Southern Sierras and returns to the Pacific Ocean.
LOCATION AND TIME
Spring Semester:
Field Trip:
Science Academic Center 53/S119
Wednesdays, 12:00 – 1:50pm
APPROXIMATELY Monday May 30th 2016 to Monday June 13th 2016
(MAY CHANGE!!!!!!!)
Instructors of record:
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
Dr. Fred Watson
By appointment set up by email,
Bldg. 53, Rm E112 Ph: 582-4452
fwatson@csumb.edu
Flower Moye
By appointment,
jmoye@csumb.edu
Volunteer instructor:

Dr. Susan Alexander
Bldg. 53, Rm. S311 Ph: 831-582-3718
salexander@csumb.edu
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PREREQUISITES
ESSP/ENVS 240/L, 260/L, 283, 284 and instructor consent.
COURSE RELATIONSHIP TO CSUMB GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

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
For the ESTP major, ENVS303/L counts toward the Major Learning Outcome (MLO)
entitled “Advanced Environmental Science, Technology, and Policy”.
For the ENSTU major, ENVS303/L counts toward MLO7 “Area of Concentration:
Natural History”.
With permission, BIO majors may also take ENVS 303/L as part of the MLO 10
elective.
This course does not fulfill any university-level General Education (GE) Requirements.
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
In keeping with the philosophies of CSUMB, this is a performance-based course. Your
grade in the course will depend on your ability to demonstrate each of the course learning
outcomes listed below:
1. Identify and describe the basic geologic and hydrologic features defining the Great
Basin, Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, and Coastal ecosystems.
2. Identify and describe the basic ecological processes and common plant and animal
species in the Great Basin, Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, and Coastal ecosystems.
3. Explain how the general structure, function, and productivity of ecological systems is
linked to the physical environment.
4. Describe how watershed systems respond to natural forces.
5. Describe how human activities have impacted the watersheds of the Great Basin,
Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, and Coastal ecosystems.
6. Define and assess current or proposed policies regulating water use in California.
7. Identify the implications of current policies and human activities impacting the
watersheds of the Great Basin, Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, and Coastal
ecosystems.
8. Follow instructions
(this list may be updated from time to time)
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ASSESSMENT
Assessment will result grades based on scores computed approximately as follows:
ENVS 303 (2-credits):
Attendance
Assignments
8%
32%
N=11
1-9%
each
Quiz
Brochure
20%
40%
Draft 1
Draft 2
Final
Oral
10%
10%
15%
5%
Total
100%
Penalties for non-attendance without written excuse such as doctor’s letter or
equivalent:




First absence:
Second absence:
Third absence:
Fourth absence:
OK
lose 5% of course score
lose 10% of course score
fail the course.
Penalty for being late to class:
1% of total course score each time you arrive after 12:05
Penalty for late assignments: At least 1% of total course score per day late
(starting immediately after the deadline), potentially increasing for assignments
later in the semester.
Penalty for missing an assignment altogether: fail the course.
Penalty for failing ENVS 303: Can’t come on the field trip (ENVS 303L)
Extra credit may be available for helping with logistical preparations
and cleanup at CSUMB before and after the 2-week field trip.
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ENVS 303L (3-credits): (Additional information to follow in the “Trip Guide”)



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Field Notes
9%
Academic engagement
18%
o General = 3%
o Herbarium = 4%
o Questions after talks = 4%
o Personal Engagement Activity (PEA) = 7%
Exams
40%
o Practice = 0%
o Mid-trip = 17%
o End-trip = 23%
Oral Presentation
20%
o Target is 20-25 minutes (-1%/min under/over)
o Points given for content, interest, use of props, eye contact, answering questions, etc.
Domestic duties
8%
o Cooking, cleaning, loading, digging, etc.
Attitude & behavior
5%
Students are expected to conduct themselves in a mature, professional, and respectful
manner that reflects well on themselves, on the class, on the university, and on citizens in
general. This includes respect for staff (including volunteers), avoiding expletives,
avoiding inappropriate jokes, sobriety, and positive communication with the general
public. Misconduct in this respect may result in a grade penalty for ‘Camp Duties’ or
‘Participation’.
Grading basis for ENVS 303 and ENVS 303L will be approximately as follows:
Grade
A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD
F
Score
98%
92%
90%
88%
82%
80%
78%
70%
na
60%
<60%
Scores will not be rounded up. e.g. a score of 91.99% is an A-minus.
FIELD TRIP FEES
Students are charged a $350 course fee at the time of enrollment. This covers food,
camping & entrance fees, and various other items.
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DISABILITIES
Students with disabilities who may need specific accommodations please see Dr. Watson
as soon as possible and before the Add/Drop date (usually 2 weeks into the semester)
during office hours or make an appointment via email. ALSO, contact:
Student_Disability_Resources@csumb.edu, Building 47, Student Services, First Floor,
Phone: 831-582-3672. Fax: 582-4024. http://sdr.csumb.edu/
ACADEMIC HONESTY
Academic Integrity is extremely important. Don’t cheat. Don’t copy someone else’s text
or data without attribution. Don’t represent someone else’s work as your own, even in a
draft submission. Accidental plagiarism is still plagiarism, and it leads to heavy penalties
with lasting impacts
The core of academic integrity resides in the scholastic honesty of the CSUMB
community, and therefore, is the responsibility of all students and faculty to uphold and
maintain. Forms of academic dishonesty include: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and
collusion in any of these activities. We value informal resolution of academic integrity
allegations; however, students discovered to have engaged in academic dishonesty will be
sanctioned.
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
Academic Integrity Policy: https://csumb.edu/policy/academic-integrity-policy
Academic Integrity Judicial information: https://csumb.edu/judicialaffairs/academic-integrity-violation
Student Conduct information: https://csumb.edu/judicialaffairs/student-conduct-hearings

Depending on severity and frequency, in ENVS 303/L, plagiarism may result in
deduction of points, zero points for an assessment, or failure of the whole class.
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Plagiarism can be deceptively simple. For example, if Schoenherr (1995) wrote this exact
text:
Giant sequoias were once widely distributed throughout western North America.
and you wanted to cite this information as a reference, it would be plagiarism to
reproduce Schoenherr’s exact words without quotation marks i.e.
This would be plagiarism if you wrote it, and would result in a penalty:
Giant sequoias were once widely distributed throughout western North America (Schoenherr,
1995).
This is ok, because even though its Schoenherr’s words verbatim, the fact that it is verbatim
is indicated by the use of quotation marks; so no miss-representation of authorship has
occurred:
“Giant sequoias were once widely distributed throughout western North America” (Schoenherr,
1995).
Paraphrasing is also ok in small doses, because it is in your own words; although if overused, paraphrasing also amounts to plagiarism:
The distribution of giant sequoias was once far more widespread than it is today, including much
of the western part of North America (Schoenherr, 1995).
A good practice is to read all your references, then decide what you want to say, then
write what you want to say in your own words, and then cite any external sources of
information.
Note, be sure to cite all external sources, even things like URLs for images you may have
obtained from the WWW.
TURNITIN Software
Turnitin.com software may be used to help detect plagiarism. For more information, see
this link: http://cat.csumb.edu/technology-resources/academic-integrity
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COURSE MATERIALS
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Required texts:
o
o
o
o
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Required texts by pre-requisite:
o
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0. “Rite-in-the-Rain” notebooks. Model 313. Need TWO. Must NOT have
pre-existing notes.
(These are small-sized, spiral-bound, level-lined, and plastic-covered)
(You may not use the 303-MX, the 353, the 310, the 363, or a different
brand.)
1. "Local Rocks of North America" – Should be at the bookroom - maybe
2. "Pacific Coast Tree Finder" – Should be at the bookroom
3. “Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada” – Should be at the bookroom
Because the pre-requisites for the class include a basic earth science class
(GEOL 260) and a basic biology class (BIO 240), you are expected to have easy
access to the required texts (or equivalent) for those classes, and a working
knowledge of introductory earth science and ecology. The required texts for GEOL
260 and BIO 240 are:
 Earth's Dynamic Systems. 10th Ed., Hamblin and Chistiansen.
 Biological Science (mainly the sections on ecology)
Recommended texts: See class web site at:
http://sep.csumb.edu/class/ENVS303/texts.htm
REQUIRED EQUIPMENT
You are required to provide the hiking and camping equipment list on the class web
site at: http://sep.csumb.edu/class/ENVS303/equipment.htm
SCHEDULE OF TOPICS
See internal class web site for a schedule of topics covered during the in-semester
preparation portion of the course (ENVS 303).
PRIOR EXPERIENCE AND SPECIAL SKILLS INFORMATION
As a required assignment in the first week of ENVS303, all students must fill out a brief
survey of their prior experience, in order to allow the instructors to plan ENVS303L
according to the experience and skill level of the class.
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