Over the past year the RCD has been partnering with the Students and Teachers Restoring A Watershed (STRAW) program of Point Blue Conservation Science to enhance land-based education opportunities for youth in Napa County.
Thanks to a grant from the North Bay Watershed Association (NBWA), RCD and STRAW education staff have been collaborating during training programs, meetings, and field trips to share best practices in environmental education curriculum for the benefit of local students. The RCD’s LandSmart Youth Stewards program shares a similar approach and mission with the STRAW program, and by connecting these two neighboring efforts, staff were able to create a more refined and robust program for students to learn about and participate in creek restoration, climate change study, and careers in conservation science.
Through this partnership, the RCD served over 100 students from American Canyon High, New Tech High, and Justin-Siena High Schools through a classroom presentation, and 3 field trips – improving the condition, function, and structure of their home watershed. Students learned about the unique structure, form, and function of the Napa River Watershed, it’s ecological history, and how working landscapes can be restored to help support the environment and humans.
American Canyon High School students adopted Sheehy Creek on a Napa Sanitation District property, making significant improvements to the landscape. Engineers from Napa County Flood Control & Water Conservation District guided students in selecting and planting native plant species adapted for growing along creeks – students had to choose between grasses, forbs, shrubs, and trees for their planting site. After selecting a plant palette, RCD staff assisted groups with installing water conserving drip-irrigation to help establish the new plantings. Finally, Napa-Solano Audubon Society demonstrated how native Western bluebirds can help naturally control pesky crop pests, and helped students build and install nesting boxes for additional habitat. The students begged not to leave their field site each day!
LandSmart Youth Stewards is a grant-funded program that serves high school classes in Napa County. Classes receive an in-class presentation about their home watershed, and then visit local open spaces, vineyards, and working lands to learn about conservation science, stewardship, and perform wildlife or water quality improvement projects on the property over the course of 3 – 5 field days. Students form connections with the landscape in completely new ways by using their hands, being outdoors, and learning from role models.
Thanks to the North Bay Watershed Association for furthering best practices in environmental education, and additional thanks to Point Blue’s STRAW program, as well as the Napa Sanitation District for providing field support for the project. Thanks to the Napa County Wildlife Conservation Commission, we look forward to the upcoming school year – empowering local students to become homegrown stewards through land-based learning.