Welcome back to Part Two of our “Meet the SSI Monitoring Sites” series! While Sierra Stream Institute’s historic roots are in the Deer Creek watershed, in 2016 we expanded to include monitoring, restoration, and research in the Bear River watershed. SSI volunteers monitor 10 sites in the watershed as part […]
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Hello! My name is Alan. Ever since I was a very small boy I have always adored the way the wind rustled the grass, how the birds sang atop their conifers, the fresh fallen Sierra snows crunching beneath my feet, the fresh mountain air… nothing compares. When I dreamed as […]
Read More >From the headwaters to its confluence with the Yuba River, volunteers at Sierra Streams Institute (SSI) monitor 11 sites in the Deer Creek watershed every three months. In this blog series, we hope to introduce you to some of our long-standing monitoring sites throughout the Deer Creek watershed, some of […]
Read More >“Death was everywhere, with life being the usual exception.” -Ulf Danielson, The World Itself. That is my favorite quote from any book and I feel it matters to point out because that is how I feel when I’m here. Life is so unusual and strange but so rare at the […]
Read More >The year is 1976 and a graduate student is crouching by Mono Lake, a saline lake in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range. He is curious about this salt lake ecosystem that has water three times saltier than the ocean. What specialized animals can dwell in these extreme waters? How […]
Read More >Dry Creek Dam Removal Restoration Planting, November 2024 Just as the first major atmospheric river system of the new water year landed in northern California, SSI joined with intrepid volunteers to plant a diverse selection of 344 native plants and several dozen willow stakes along Dry Creek at the Beale […]
Read More >This summer SSI staff and volunteers took to the lower Deer Creek Watershed to investigate nutrients, namely nitrates and phosphates. Nutrients are essential for life in a creek, but in excess, they can lead to overgrowth of algae and low-oxygen conditions (read more about how that happens here; scroll down […]
Read More >If you’ve been out wandering under the oaks in the last few weeks and looked up, you may have noticed tree branches sagging with the weight of huge crops of acorns. Or perhaps now you’re cleaning them up in your yard! But what gives? Why and how do these “bumper […]
Read More >The Yuba Watershed Institute’s forest treatment project, the Little Deer Creek Landscape Resilience Project, plays a crucial role in safeguarding the local community from the growing threat of wildfires. By managing forest density and removing excess fuels, the project aims to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic fires in the densely […]
Read More >Researchers, led by Emma Walker, at Sierra Streams Institute’s Benthic Macroinvertebrates (BMI) lab recently started working on a new scientific paper after successfully presenting their preliminary findings at the Sierra Nevada Science Symposium. The paper focuses on the impact of water flow on stream bug communities and relies on extensive […]
Read More >Crew members working on the Woolman School prescribed burn as part of the The Sierra Foothill Forest Climate Resilience Project (SFFCRP). Photo Credit: Matt Berry On May 18th at the Woolman Outdoor School Campus, also known as the “Sierra Friends Center”, Sierra Streams Institute (SSI) coordinated a prescribed burn on […]
Read More >Faucherie Dam, Photo Credit: Nevada Irrigation District As you may have heard, this last winter was a rough one for some of Pacific Gas and Electric’s infrastructure, and the Nevada Irrigation District has had to scramble to continue getting water to their customers. You can read more about the details […]
Read More >In the uplands of the 58-acre Roy Peterson Wolf Creek Preserve, newly acquired by Wolf Creek Community Alliance as a generous donation from the Peterson family, a restoration project is underway. Matt Berry, a Restoration Ecologist at Sierra Streams, led Wolf Creek staff and volunteers in work that mimics the […]
Read More >The new year will bring a new bridge in Nevada City – eventually. This past August the Nevada City Council awarded a contract to Golden State Bridge Inc. of Benicia, CA for the demolition and reconstruction of the Nevada Street Bridge. This bridge crosses over the confluence of Deer Creek […]
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There’s something in the water! Hardly less charismatic than some gargantuan marine predator, Pectinatella magnifica or the “magnificent” bryozoan is a species of microscopic aquatic invertebrate – also known as a “moss animal” or zooid, usually less than a millimeter in size – that forms substantial, gelatinous colonies on submerged […]
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Ren Stone has been working as Sierra Streams’ water quality lab manager since Fall 2022 as a part of the Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership (SNAP). With their SNAP term coming to a close last month, we’d like to take the time to recognize them as a full-fledged staff member at […]
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As all readers will surely be aware, California has been experiencing increasing fire severity and frequency in recent years. In 2020, 4 million acres were burned, and in 2021, the Dixie and Caldor fires were the first fires in CA history to hop the crest of the Sierra Nevada. So, […]
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As fall approaches, we’ll be saying goodbye to Tavi Maes, who has spent his summer away from UC Santa Cruz working as an intern in our benthic macroinvertabrate lab. Reflecting on his experiences at Sierra Streams, Tavi says he has enjoyed learning the basics of hydroecology and working with an […]
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Over the last couple winters, Sierra Streams Institute has begun conducting targeted stormwater monitoring as a part of our normal watershed monitoring regimen. In light of the some of the recent inclement weather we’ve experienced in the Sierra Foothills, our executive director Jeff Lauder wrote an article in January 2023 […]
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With over a decade of experience in empowering students to learn about and steward their local watersheds, the goal of SSI’s Education Program is to provide robust educational experiences to the students of Nevada County. This month we highlight one of our field experiences called Environmental Science Investigations. The Environmental […]
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