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 […]
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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 […]
Read More >This spring, with funding from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC), Sierra Streams Institute has kicked into high gear the process of developing a vegetation management plan for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) parcels in the Lower Steephollow region of the Sierra Nevada foothills. The plan will be shared with BLM […]
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Sierra Streams Institute created the Our Forests project to answer the question: “what would it mean for students to be able to engage with local environmental issues through real-world scientific investigation?” Benefits of Place-Based Community Science Funded through the National Science Foundation, Our Forests has been a collaborative project between […]
Read More >Spring is officially here, so now is the time to sign up to volunteer for Sierra Streams Institute’s summer creek surveys! This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in getting hands-on experience in the field of environmental science and those trying to explore and think more deeply about the […]
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As we move into spring with snow still on the ground, we wanted to revisit this topic and give a brief update on where we stand now. The atmospheric rivers have continued to provide us with rain and snow, filling creeks and reservoirs and contributing to a snowpack for the […]
Read More >Do you live in the Sierra Foothills? Do you love our beautiful watershed–the Yuba and Bear rivers and all of the wonderful tributaries that flow out of the mountains in Nevada County? Do you want to participate in conserving, restoring and educating people about our watershed? Sierra Streams Institute is […]
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This winter has certainly been one for the memory books, but what about the record books? With all of the rain we’ve received over the last few weeks, multiple questions have been coming up. Just how big is this storm compared to prior wet years? Is this a “drought buster”? What […]
Read More >This summer, Sierra Streams Institute board member Dave Herbst worked with SSI staff, volunteers and recent graduates from UC Santa Cruz to pilot a project characterizing aquatic invertebrate biodiversity of streams throughout the Sierra Nevada, including the Yuba River. This work builds on our long-term citizen monitoring program, our partnership […]
Read More >Please join us on November 11 at the Nevada City Odd Fellows Hall, 212 Spring Street, Nevada City CA to chat about local environmental issues and have a snack! We will have a number of silent auction items to bid on, a perfect way to stock up on early holiday […]
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Summer sampling by the numbers: Summer Water Quality Summary: Between June and August, we collected water quality data from 12 sites in the Deer Creek watershed and 10 sites in the Bear River watershed. Learn more about our water quality parameters below! Oxygen is necessary for all forms of life. […]
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This past school year, Sierra Streams Institute had the joy of venturing into our local forests with over 300 3rd-5th grade students in Nevada County. The mission? Promote students’ environmental science agency, spark curiosity and increase interest in land stewardship through placed-based investigations into forest health. The program, Our Forests, […]
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The signs are related to bacteria levels. Every summer in the creeks, as the temperature increases and water flow decreases, we see an increase in bacteria at many of our monitoring sites. Some amount of bacteria is always present in creek water, but less water in the creek concentrates any […]
Read More >Sierra Streams Institute is excited to undertake a new restoration project to supplement, improve and maintain salmonid habitat along a portion of Dry Creek within Beale Air Force Base located near Spenceville Wildlife Area. This is an exciting new project for SSI because all programs have an opportunity to work […]
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