Highlights
Building Our Capacity Campaign
The Deer Creek Watershed Restoration Plan
Deer Creek Tribute Trail Completed
New Science Education Program for Home School Students
The Deer Creek Watershed Restoration Plan Completed After months of intense work, the staff at Sierra Streams Institute /Friends of Deer Creek has completed the Deer Creek Restoration Plan. The overall objective of the plan is to analyze the many years of scientific data in order to prioritize future assessments and restoration work.
The Tsi-Akim Maidu tribal community collaborated with Sierra Streams Institute /Friends of Deer Creek to write the plan and added cultural recommendations for future restoration work. The report will be very useful for grant applications, presentations to scientists and local community members, scientific journal articles and more.
Copies of the plan are available on DVD from Sierra Streams Institute.
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Help Secure $36,000 in Matching Funds for the Building
Our Capacity 2011 Campaign
Sierra Streams Institute’s Building Our Capacity
2011 campaign is raising $111,000 to support our current programs, update our technology, expand
our education programs and enhance our laboratory services. We're very excited to announce
we have already raised $43,000 toward our goal. A long time supporter has come forward
with an inspiring $36,000 challenge – this supporter will donate
a dollar to match every dollar you give to the Building Our Capacity campaign. $36,000 community dollars
matched by our donor’s $36,000 gift will take us to our goal. Big gifts, small
gifts…all are important in this effort.
A gift of $50 would become $100. A gift of $1,000
would become $2,000.
Every gift of every size is significant and
appreciated!
Please
help Sierra Streams Institute secure $36,000 in matching funds for the Building
Our Capacity campaign! Donate Now
Deer Creek Tribute Trail Completed
Friends of Deer Creek and
our project partners have put the final touches on the Deer Creek Tribute
Trail, an 8 mile trail system that begins in Pioneer Park and provides new access to Deer Creek. Sierra Streams Institute/Friends of Deer Creek staff and volunteers
have been working tirelessly on the section of the trail that runs along Little Deer Creek between Pioneer Park and the Stonehouse in Nevada City. We have finished planting natives to replace the invasive
English ivy and have made final modifications to the trail. Also look for our newly installed interpretive signs. They highlight significant
ecological, historical, and cultural points along the trail, providing insight
into Nevada City’s past and present.
Our project
partners have also been hard at work. American
Rivers has completed fuels reduction work along Champion Rd, restored the Stocking Flat floodplain, and made improvements to the pullouts along
Champion Rd. The Nevada County Land Trust has finished the trail to Stocking
Flat, and has made improvements along the rest of the trail, including three short bridges and handicap accessible trail segments. The Sierra Fund has installed the beautiful
Stocking Flat Bridge, which crosses Deer Creek and connects the newly completed trail to property
owned by the Bureau of Land Management, who will be building an additional mile
of trail in the coming year.
Watch for an annoucement of the trail opening ceremonies scheduled for Saturday, June 4, 2011.
New Science Education Program for Home School
Students Home School Field Day May 10
Science is critically important in the education of young students. The study of the important issues facing us - such as water resources and quality, environmental preservation and restoration, and climate change - may enable today's students to address some of these issues in the future. However, students who are in home school programs have few opportunities to access labs and scientific equipment.
Beginning in September 2011, Sierra Streams Institute/Friends of Deer Creek will be offering classes for home school students in grades 6-9 in our new classroom and lab at the Carriage House. This standards-based program offers hands-on scientific investigation of the Deer Creek watershed and all of the wildlife that makes its home there. Deer Creek's diverse habitat provides the opportunity for a multi-disciplinary science curriculum that includes biology, geology, and topography, and gives students a chance to sharpen their observation skills while spending time in nature. Led by our trained and experienced science teachers, students will work in our fully equipped lab and in the field, conducting water quality testing, assessing stream health, and completing field journals.
Home school students and their parents and siblings are warmly invited to a Science for Home School Field Day on Tuesday May 10 from 1-3 pm at Sierra Streams Institute in the Carriage House. Students and parents will learn about our science classes, visit our lab and classroom, and spend part of the afternoon at the creek. The cost is $5 per student (parents and siblings can come for free).
For more information or to sign up, email Sierra Streams Institute/Friends of Deer Creek Education Coordinator Lisa Frankel at lisa@friendsofdeercreek.org or call (530) 265-6090 ext. 206.
National Recognition for Volunteer Programs
Welcome Rachel Durben - Our new AmeriCorps Outreach and Restoration Coordinator
 Rachel grew up in Arizona, where she attended Northern Arizona University, earning a B.S. in Zoology. After graduating from NAU, Rachel traveled extensively and then decided to return home to NAU. In December she earned an M.S. in Biology, conducting her graduate research in riparian ecology, specifically the interactions between beavers, cottonwood trees, and insects. While a graduate student, Rachel discovered her passion for teaching and looks forward to expanding her teaching skills in her position at Sierra Streams Institute/Friends of Deer Creek. She will also conduct restoration projects and study several aspects of aquatic ecology.
When she’s not teaching or doing research, she can be found hiking, backpacking, snowboarding, snowshoeing, doing yoga, or exploring the mountains and rivers.
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