March 7, 2008

Another Successful Year for Watershed Stewards The AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project (WSP) successfully completed its 13th year of community service surpassing program goals for community outreach, education, watershed monitoring, and restoration. Since 1994, more than 50 WSP members each year volunteer 11 months of their lives to serve Northern California watersheds and communities. Members who served in the 2006-07 program year completed a combined total of 86,787 hours. In placement sites from San Francisco to the Oregon border, members served 2,170 students in local K-12 classrooms using WSP’s Real Science watershed-based curriculum to present a five-visit series of lessons about watersheds, the water cycle, salmon and trout life cycle, habitat and anatomy, as well as general ecology. WSP members engaged almost 940 volunteers in their local watersheds through hands-on restoration projects during the past year such as tree plantings and stream clean ups, totaling over 3,350 hours of volunteer service. Members also provided almost 2,000 hours of community presentations to more than 8,200 community members about conservation and best land use practices. Serving under the guidance of natural resource professionals, members conducted watershed restoration and monitoring, including surveying over 1,340 miles of stream and watershed habitat throughout Northern California. A special project of the California Consveration Corps, WSP is sponsored by CaliforniaVolunteers and administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service. For more information, contact the Watershed Stewards Project at 707-725-8601 or by visiting www.WatershedStewards.com.