Friends of Deer Creek / Sierra Streams Institute

In 2022, SSI collected data and wrote four forest management plans for a landscape-scale forest health and wildfire resilience project involving three outdoor school parcels and a FireWise Community. Data collection involved interaction with private landowners, inviting them to participate in the collection process, and conveying the need for continued treatment after the work is completed. A Resource Toolkit was also developed for the public, which addresses questions that the FireWise landowners themselves had regarding stewardship activities, grant resources, and contractors. SSI also performed restoration activities at Dry Creek on the Beale Airforce Base. Collection of seed, planting of native species, noxious weed removal, rock placement, and greenhouse building occurred. Monitoring of water quality was ongoing. Planning was initiated for a pedestrian trail alongside the creek as well.

RESEARCH & MONITORING: We updated our water quality monitoring approach based on our recent data analysis, targeting our monitoring program to assess climate change in local watersheds. This allowed us to launch new approaches to assessing climate change impacts on local watersheds. Further, our research efforts in the realms of mine waste impacts on human health, drivers of fire severity, prescribed fire impacts on forest regeneration, and drivers of drought-induced forest mortality have all yielded manuscripts submitted for publication in academic journals and public dissemination of results of these studies is pending.

EDUCATION: Our forests program is a national science foundation-funded project begun in 2019, in partnership with the center for community and citizen science at UC Davis and Nevada County Superintendent of Schools. we are designing hands-on science curriculum for 3rd to 5th graders with an emphasis of community and citizen science in Western Nevada County. students will collect forest health and fire resilience data on plots within walking distance of their school, while UC Davis researchers study whether this method of teaching science is more effective than traditional, in-class curriculum.