California

Urban Tree Planting

2021, Sacramento, CA, USA

Anh Nguyen and Nicholas Vang, students in Grant High School’s GEO academy, are concerned about climate change. They live in a highly urbanized area, with little natural vegetation, and therefore wanted to add elements to the landscape that might help minimize the effects of climate change. They did some research and learned that doubling Sacramento’s urban tree canopy has the potential to remove thousands of tons of Carbon dioxide annually. The students decided to plant trees in their community, as they would absorb CO2, provide shade, and help reduce the heat-island effect. As they were choosing different species to plant, they decided to also include apple trees that would provide fresh fruit to residents as well as habitat and nectar for pollinators. The students also planned to reach out to the diverse cultural groups that they are connected to (Hmong, Lao, Vietnamese) to make information about tree planting and watershed benefits accessible, even to those who do not speak English.

Pollinator Patch Project

2021, Sacramento, CA, USA

Grant High School students, Andrea Sanchez, Janeth Guerrero, and Santiago Garcia, proposed the “pollinator patch” project, a garden at school in which specific plant species would attract pollinators and also be utilized by students in the Horticulture class. Thus, the patch would serve as prime habitat, but also an educational space for students in the GEO Academy where students could learn to identify species, as well as techniques for planting, harvesting, and bouquet design. The students also created a website that describes the plants, the pollinator species that would visit them, and horticultural processes. Their fellow students that had returned to campus, Bryant Vang, Daniella Rodriguez, and Fernando Montez, helped to plant and water the garden.

Grant High School Garden Tour

2020, Sacramento, CA, USA

Students from Grant High School’s GEO Academy organized and led educational field trips for elementary students to explore and study in the school’s garden. Activities included seed and plant anatomy and adaptations, compost and soil food web investigations, and a “Nutrition Scavenger Hunt”’ of plants and their vitamins. Students also transplanted, harvested, and tasted vegetables, while learning about food safety practices. Caring for Our Watersheds funding helped bring 100 elementary students from 2 schools to have this awesome hands-on experience.

Forest High School Coop Project

2021, Foresthill, CA, USA

In order to help teach sustainable agricultural practices to students in Ag Biology, Farm to Fork classes, and the FFA club at Foresthill High School, students Heidi Lysen and David Reinhart worked together to plan and build a chicken coop and enclosure as part of their school garden. The chickens will provide natural pest control for the garden and provide manure to compost and enrich the soil. Heidi and David are grateful for the friends, family, and Caring for Our Watersheds funding that helped them accomplish this project for their school.

Rain Garden at School

2019, Sacramento, California, USA

After learning about issues related to urban storm water runoff, Suad Abdan and Elizabeth Meads spent time researching ways to address this concern is their local watershed. They learned that a well-placed rain garden can serve to help “slow the flow” of runoff, to help water infiltrate into the soil and recharge groundwater, as well as provide habitat and food for insects and wildlife. They also liked the idea of creating something aesthetically pleasing that had so many environmental benefits.

Suad and Elizabeth spent time during the winter surveying their campus for an appropriate location for a rain garden. They chose a low spot where water seemed to drain to from the campus right before the water would flow onto the road and into the storm drain.

They chose a variety of plants that develop deep root systems, were able to tolerate seasonal inundation with water, but also survive dry periods. While their garden was relatively small, both girls learned a lot about the design and process of installing these rain gardens and how they can serve as tools to reduce storm water runoff.

rain garden

student action

Their demonstration project will be a learning tool for the garden class at George Washington Carver High School, who will monitor the garden to see how it is performing after the plants have established and grown over the next year. Caring for Our Watersheds funds help purchase plants and mulch for the garden.

Watershed-Themed Children’s Book

2019, West Sacramento, California, USA

River City High School student Sonya Shifrin has a passion for the environment and the arts. For her Caring for Our Watersheds project, she chose to combine her artistic talents and her enthusiasm for natural resource stewardship to create a watershed-themed book for children.

Sonya, who was a finalist in the 2018 Caring for Our Watersheds competition, created watercolor illustrations for each page of her book, which introduces watershed concepts and encourages students to care for their local watershed with examples of what they can do in their daily lives to make a difference. With funding from Nutrien, Sonya was able to print copies of her book and donate them to each of the elementary school libraries in the Washington Unified School District.

watershed childrens book example

Canyon Creek Trail Clean-Up

2019, Auburn, California, USA

MET Sacramento High School student Faith Smitham was concerned with all the trash she saw along one of the most popular trails in the Auburn State Recreation Area, the Canyon Creek Trail. For her Caring for Our Watersheds project, Faith organized a clean-up of the trail and creek area, including the trailhead and parking area, where much trash is found.

On Saturday, May 11, Faith and her small group of volunteers spend around 4 hours cleaning up the trail, and talking to other visitors about her project.

garbage clean up

As a result, several hikers actually joined in their clean-up efforts, contributing to the success of the day! Faith also gathered data on the different types of trash they collected (plastic bottles were the most numerous) and planned to share this with park rangers, in case it may inform future signage, management, and the prevention of littering and pollution in this beautiful area.

Watershed Science Trip

2019, Sacramento, California, USA

Watershed Science Trip Student Photo

MET Sacramento student Simon Downes-Toney knows how a field trip can solidify and enhance classroom learning about watershed issues and also get students excited about science. As this was one of the largest snow-years on record, it presented an excellent opportunity to learn about the snowpack that is critical to California’s water supply.

Measuring snow depth and density at levels in the snowpit

Simon organized a trip to Claire Tappan Lodge, where students measured snow temperature and density at different levels within the snowpack, snow purity at different field locations, and graphed and analyzed their data. Simon’s proposal and funding from Nutrien allowed for more students to attend the trip and learn about how scientists track, study, and predict water supply with this critical resource.

Building a Compost Bench

2019, Sacramento, California, USA

As a student at The MET Sacramento High School, Shamar Russell spends part of his week at an internship in the community. Shamar interns at the Creative Connections Arts Academy (CCAA), where two needs he saw in the garden area sparked an idea for his Caring for Our Watersheds project.

Shamar wanted to teach the children of CCAA about composting, but there was not a good space to build a 3-section compost bin. There was also a need for seating for a teaching space in the garden area.

compost bench

Shamar decided on a project that would fulfill both needs: a compost bench! While the bench has a smaller capacity for composting garden waste, it still can be used as a focal point to teach about composting to the students. It also serves as a place where students can sit for a lesson in the garden or where students and teachers can rest after planting, weeding, or harvesting.

The current design allows for a potential worm bin, or the bottom can be removed if ground contact is desired for more traditional composting. Signage will be included to point out this unique new feature of the garden space at CCAA. Caring for Our Watersheds funding helped Shamar purchase lumber and hardware to build the bench.

Vermicomposting

2019, Sacramento, California, USA

Kevin Alvarez-Vazquez, a student at the MET Sacramento, was concerned about the amount of food waste from his school that ends up in landfills. Food waste that decomposes in landfills releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is more potent than carbon dioxide. Kevin knew that traditional outdoor composting can convert food waste into nutrient rich soil, but he wanted to demonstrate an alternative that can be done indoors or outdoors, vermicomposting.

Kevin built a worm bin with special adjustments for indoor use, as he did not want extremities of weather to cause worms to die and needed maintenance to be an easy, regular part of the school day.

Kevin plans to educate advisory groups at his school and to create a flyer, with a “how to” diagram and materials list on one side and information about the benefits of vermicomposting on the other. Caring for Our Watersheds funding helped purchase materials and worms for the bin.