The Santa Ynez Sedgwick Reserve.

UC Santa Barbara received a $6 million gift to establish a research center at its Santa Ynez Sedgwick Reserve from Linda La Kretz Duttenhaver and her father, Morton La Kretz.

A graduate of the school, La Kretz Duttenhaver has formerly provided funds to renovate a ranch house and barn on the 6,000-acre property the university manages on behalf of the UC Natural Reserve System. The La Kretz Research Center will conduct studies on the impacts of climate change to California ecological systems, and the gift will create an endowed directorship and fund student fellowships.

In a news release from the university, La Kretz Duttenhaver called the site unique and an ideal place for research due to its diversity of plant and animal species.

“Because Sedgwick models California’s significant ecosystems, this gift will have wide impact,” said Patricia Holden, director of the NRS and a professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. “By supporting research, including by graduate students, the impacts will also be long-term.”

• Contact Marissa Nall at mnall@pacbiztimes.com.