Outreach & Education

To encourage public and community participation in watershed health, there have been a large number of field trips to the Carman Valley area.  These were provided by various partners, most notable by Randy Westmoreland, USFS on the Sierraville Ranger District and  Jim Steele, Sierra Nevada Field Campus. 

Randy has provided USFS-sponsored field trips of anyone whom expressed interest, and Jim conducted classes during the summer in Carman Valley.  Both of these educational programs have reached hundreds of people.

In addition to the field trips, Jim has set up website to increase awareness of the project.  The website address is: http://thecity.sfsu.edu/snfc/carman.htm.   The SVRCD also has a link describing the project.  It is accessed through the High Sierra Resource Conservation and Development District website, and also through the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts.

The SVRCD has consistently sent news articles to the local media regarding the progress of the project.  There has been a good response from the local community and from others in general to the project, and interested people have attended field trips to learn more about watershed restoration and the techniques we have utilized.  SVRCD has also sponsored to field trips for the media, legislators and local residents:  the first of these occurred in August, 2001 and the second will be in June of 2003.

Both Portola High School and Loyalton High School have expressed a desire to become active in the project, assisting with photo-monitoring and bird nest construction.  With the addition of more grant funding, the RCD will be able to add an Education and Outreach Coordinator to accomplish our school networking, and to continue the great success of the Carman Valley Watershed Restoration project.