Our Forests – Sierra Streams Institute

Youth-focused Community and Citizen Science in Nevada County

What makes a forest healthy? Are our local forests healthy? Those are the questions that 3rd-5th graders from around the area are attempting to answer with the help of Sierra Stream’s Institute’s education team. Students will be working throughout the year to assess the health of the forests and provide input on management decisions to improve the health of our local forests. This project, run in partnership with UC Davis’s Center for Community and Citizen Science and Nevada County Superintendent of Schools, is generously funded by a National Science Foundation Grant. This year students are collecting data within plots on land owned by NID, State Parks, Woolman at Sierra Friends Center, and Nevada City School of the Arts.

Our Forests is focused on three key features of citizen science- collecting, analyzing, and sharing data. The aim is to create a replicable model of a Next Generation Science Standards-aligned, school-based community and citizen science program. That way, it can be used in classrooms around the country after the project ends. Researchers will be analyzing the impact of this program on students’ environmental science learning and agency over several design cycles. This will help to inform other environmental educators how to build a program that connects students with their natural environment and empowers them to play a role in maintaining their health.

After several setbacks due to the pandemic, the program is now up and running at Cottage Hill Elementary, Grass Valley Charter School, Nevada City School of the Arts, and Williams Ranch School. Students have completed their first field investigations, learning how to make scientific observations and use scientific tools to understand their study plots. Throughout the year, students will continue to travel to their research plots to collect data about the health of the forests. Ultimately they will be building a data set that they will share with landowners to inform decisions about the management of that land. Stay tuned throughout the year to hear what the students in the Our Forests Program are up to.

Students are making observations about the plants growing in their plots. — Students are making observations about and familiarizing themselves with the plants that are growing in their research plots.

Students are recording observations in their science journals about their learning. — Students record their observations in their science journals that they will use throughout the year to collect data on their plots.

For questions about the program contact our Education Director, Sol Hensen at Sol@Sierrastreamsinstitute.org.