SIERRA STREAMS
Watershed Monitoring, Research, & Restoration
“The Sierra Streams California Naturalist program gave me the inspiration I needed to pursue higher education in a field that I am passionate about. The program has inadvertently had a big influence on the trajectory of my life…”
Sierra Streams Institute is delighted to be one of the training sites for the UC California Naturalist Program. In the program, you will become part of a committed corps of volunteer naturalists and citizen scientists, equipped with the skills needed to take an active role in local natural resource conservation, restoration, and education. The ten-week course combines science instruction with guest speakers, field trips, and project-based learning to explore the unique ecology and natural history of the northern Sierra foothills.
Sierra Streams Institute partners with the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources to teach California Naturalist, a comprehensive course on the natural history of our local landscape. California Naturalist fosters stewardship of the natural world by training a group of citizen scientists and naturalists each year.
Lectures and field trips led by Sierra Streams Institute staff and local guest speakers will give participants the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to engage with environmental science topics and local environmental issues. Classes will focus on local geology, hydrology, forest ecology, and wildlife ecology as well as make connections to global environmental issues. During field trips, students will learn field methods for phenology studies, birding, wildlife surveys, and forest management. At the end of the course, participants will complete a capstone project on a topic of their interest, guided by Sierra Streams scientists or other science experts at local organizations. Through these connections, California Naturalist provides excellent opportunities to volunteer for the many environmental non-profit organizations in the area.
Sierra Streams Institute is bringing back our Stream Ecology advanced training, and this year we’re diving even deeper. No prerequisites needed — just curiosity and a willingness to get your feet wet.
Learn how stream geomorphologists and biologists actually read our waterways, and get hands-on with the same tools scientists use in the field.
Taught in two distinct sections the course provides background knowledge and field protocols skills to launch you into the world of stream science. Join us for interactive lectures and enriching field experiences. Lecture and field days are paired into sections by topic. Each section costs $75 and if you sign up for both the fee is $125, a $25 savings!
This section will build a robust understanding of watersheds that includes how rivers are classified and how watersheds are composed of sub-watersheds that all have unique physical and chemical contributions to the main stem streams. Stream flow and geomorphology will be covered in this section to build an understanding of the geologic basis for creating the common morphological features of the stream (think pools and riffles!) and how those form the basis for stream habitats. Lastly the section will review water quality parameters that we monitor in order to determine stream health and we will look to debunk a number of water quality myths! So bring you myths ready to share. In the field participants will learn how to collect flow data and how to collect a suite of water quality data including dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, turbidity, pH and more.
Part 2 will cover some of the seminal concepts around the flow of energy in river systems and how nutrient movement, uptake, and cycling result in the plant and animal communities we see across a given watershed. Concepts will include the River Continuum Concept, Flood-Pulse Concept, the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis and more! In the field participants will learn to collect physical habitat data and will collect and identify benthic macroinvertebrates living in our streams.
For general questions and inquiries, please contact cnssi@sierrastreamsinstitute.org or (530)-470-6037 ext 4.
The course will be held at the Sierra Streams Institute office for the presentation evenings at 117 New Mohawk Road Suite H in Nevada City.
The field days will take place at select field locations but are still TBD. Last year the first field location was Pioneer Park in Nevada City and the second one was the Discovery Trail on the Bear River off of Bowman Road. There is a good chance we will use the same locations this year.
Currently we do not have Tribal Partners attending the training. However, this is a great idea and we hope to in the future!
No, you will not receive the California Naturalist Certificate for this course. This course is an “Advanced Training” and is much shorter and less involved (2 presentations and 2 field days) than the standard course. The standard course, which we will run in the spring (March through May), requires 40+ hours of instruction and field work. Please let us know if you are interested in the standard course in the spring.
That depends. If a grad student is studying the hydrology and biology of streams then this course might not provide a ton of extra insight or understanding to their current studies. However, our course is still broad and covers water quality, geomorphology, and biology of streams. So this is a well rounded refresher for grad students in the field and definitely for grad students studying other fields.
