Things have changed a lot at SSI over the past several weeks, just as they have everywhere else. All in person events have been cancelled, and our staff work remotely. While we are still doing essential field work for vegetation management and water quality monitoring, it’s not the same without the amazing team of volunteers who normally assist us.
On the bright side, it’s been amazing to see how the watershed community has pulled together during this time to provide online environmental education resources. We are teaming up with SYRCL and Shady Creek Outdoor School to produce a distance learning series featuring weekly videos. Our first video went out last week, and they will continue to be posted on the Shady Creek Outdoor School youtube channel through mid-June. This week’s content is a Backyard Bioblitz for the American, Bear, and Yuba watersheds. The series also includes weekly “Ask a Scientist” chats on Facebook live, an opportunity for adults and kids to ask local ecologists, hydrologists, geologists and beyond about their work. Check out the SYRCL Facebook page on Fridays from 10-11 to participate in this event.
As another example of virtual environmental education, Bear Yuba Land Trust is hosting its Environmental Youth Summit online during Earth Week. Every day of the summit is a new theme. For Earth Day, BYLT invited representatives from other nonprofits including SSI to talk about community collaboration in our watershed–an especially important topic these days!
While we certainly miss our volunteers and our field trips at Woolman, we are grateful for all of this collaboration in our community. Let’s keep it up!