Meet the Watershed Stewards Program

By Tara Blake

Watershed Stewards Programs Corpsmembers work alongside the fisheries crew conducting field surveys and gaining experience with data entry and processing. Corpsmembers Tara Blake and Natale Urquhart, pictured here, are serving at Point Reyes National Seashore during the 2021-2022 service year.

NPS / Elek Yozie

April 2022 - A partnership between the California Conservation Corps, AmeriCorps, and California Volunteers, the Watershed Stewards Program (WSP) is dedicated to improving watershed health by engaging in restoration science, civic service, and community education. Since 1994, WSP has partnered Corpsmembers with placement sites at the local, state, and federal level throughout the state of California. And since 2012, the San Francisco Bay Area Network fisheries crew at Point Reyes National Seashore has been one of the sites hosting Corpsmembers.

There are three distinct areas of work that define a Corpsmembers term of service. The majority of a Corpsmembers work falls under the category of watershed recovery and protection. Corpsmembers work alongside professionals at their placement sites aiding in watershed data collection and analysis, fish counts and surveys, project monitoring and maintenance, and a variety of restoration work. At Point Reyes, Corpsmembers help the salmonid monitoring program meet annual goals by conducting a variety of field surveys, entering data, and producing data summaries.

Community outreach is the second major component of WSP. Each Corpsmember hosts a Watershed Awareness Volunteer Event (WAVE) during their term of service. These hands-on restoration projects aim to engage communities in restoring their watershed and educate volunteers about their watershed’s needs. Projects can range from community cleanups to native species planting events in the name of improving watershed health. This year, Corpsmembers at Point Reyes worked closely with park staff to host two creek restoration events.

Each Watershed Stewards Program Corpsmember hosts a Watershed Awareness Volunteer Event (WAVE) during their term of service. These hands-on restoration projects aim to engage communities in restoring their watershed and educate volunteers about their watershed’s needs.

WSP / NPS / Tara Blake

The third element of a Corpsmember’s service is teaching the Wonders of Watersheds (WOW!) education series to classrooms in their host community. Corpsmembers partner with 2nd-6th grade classrooms teaching a series of lessons pertaining to water usage, the life of a salmon, human impacts and interactions with watersheds, water conservation, solutions to pollution, and the importance of biodiversity in nature. These lessons are an interactive way for students to learn about and explore their watershed.

Corpsmembers brought a 2nd grade classroom on a field trip to Point Reyes National Seashore where they hiked through a wetland examining biodiversity.

WSP / NPS / Tara Blake

Corpsmembers are placed with their host sites for a 10.5-month term through which they gain first-hand experience in the field of fisheries and natural resource management as well as develop invaluable skills in project planning, volunteer recruitment, and community engagement. All of this while contributing to the important work being done for California's threatened and endangered salmonids.

You can learn more here about WSP and the work being done around California!

For more information

• San Francisco Bay Area Network Salmonid Monitoring webpage
• Pacific Coast Science & Learning Center Coho & Steelhead webpage
  • San Francisco Bay Area Coho and Steelhead Blog
• Contact Fishery Biologist Michael Reichmuth

---

See more from the Bay Area Nature & Science Blog