By Paula White Ahh summer! Long days and no school make it the perfect time for exploring the natural world. When I was growing up in West Virginia and Minnesota that meant tramping around in the woods and playing in the creek, going on family vacations to a favorite swimming hole, paddling the canoe in the lake with my siblings or fishing with my grandfather in his aluminum motorboat. Since moving to the Bay Area, I've found new favorite places to play, many of which are accessible by public transit or bicycle. Northern California may not have the same beach culture as Southern …
Spend the Summer Outside with The Watershed Project
The long sunny days of summer are a welcome change of pace after our rainy winter, and The Watershed Project has fun activities for you and your family to enjoy the great outdoors of the Bay Area! One of the missions of The Watershed Project is to inspire and introduce our neighbors and community to the incredible nature we have all around us in our urban environment. From city parks to backyards, open spaces to parking strips, nature is all around us to enjoy and learn from. First up is our 20th Anniversary Oyster Picnic on Sunday, June 18th. To celebrate our 20 years of work in the Bay …
What’s In Your Watershed: Poison Oak
By Lauren Woodfill On a recent hike to Wildcat Peak in Tilden Park, I was enjoying the sweeping vista of the SF Bay, grateful to be living in such a wonderful place, when I absently strayed from the center of the trail. Awaiting me was the ever dreaded three oily leaves of poison oak that often line the sides of the path and in some places creating an obstacle course as its branches reached across the trail. A brief panic erupted after this encounter, as I anticipated an irritating rash emerging in 2-3 days on my leg. Fortunately, I was spared the discomfort this time around, but I am …
Watershed Education Wrap Up: An Action-Packed 20th Year
By Phaela Peck and Nikki Muench May means summer is fast approaching and it also signifies the end of The Watershed Project’s school year education programming. This year we served a record 1,606 students in Contra Costa, Alameda and San Francisco counties! Students in grades K-12 engaged in watershed education lessons and spent time in local parks. Climate Corps AmeriCorps Fellow Nikki Muench and Education Manager Phaela Peck developed and piloted new lessons, took hundreds of students out in nature and mentored Wild Oysters interns. The Watershed Project’s education team’s goal is to …
Watershed Voices: Education Interview with Nikki
By Nikki Muench I started working at The Watershed Project as a Climate Corps AmeriCorps fellow in December 2016 as part of the Education Team, teaching and redesigning curriculum and offering program evaluation development for the high school programs as well as elementary and middle school programs. Growing up in Albany, California and spending countless weekends at the beach and camping among redwoods shaped me into an environmentally-passionate person who still hopes to enjoy jobs that let me be outside. I earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Cruz in environmental studies and …
Wild Oysters Internship Perspective: Looking Back at the Semester
This spring, The Watershed Project had the pleasure of hosting three interns as part of the Wild Oysters Education Program. Over the last five months, Alex Hartnett, Tyler Glaser and Kunal Mehta have supported the Wild Oysters program by attending classroom lessons, instructing students on oyster data collection at Point Pinole, and researching material for Wild Oysters lessons. At the start of their internship, they participated in two training sessions to begin their introduction to native Olympia oysters. Wild Shorelines program manager Helen Fitanides walked the interns through oyster …
What’s In Your Watershed: The Gray Fox
By Lauren Woodfill The education team’s busy schedule often takes them out on field trips and lessons, but one member of the staff always sticks close to the office: the gray fox! This shy creature has made its home under the education building, and every few weeks, a hushed call ripples through the office: “Look out the window! The fox is back!” Quickly, quietly, we all rush to catch sight of the adaptable gray fox. Gray foxes, Urocyon cinereoargenteus, are one of the many animals forced to adapt to the rapid changes in the Bay Area. With urbanization shrinking or isolating their …
Interview with Femke Freiberg|A Voice of Watershed Protection
By Sharon Gibbons Femke Freiberg is a former TWP employee, and currently is the Manager of California Water Programs at the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation. We spoke to her about TWP and the role watershed protection has played in her life. How many years where you an employee at TWP and how long ago did you leave? I was an employee of TWP for 5 years. I left in fall 2013. What was your role at TWP and how do you feel that experience has shaped your environmental career? I served as both the SPAWNERS Coordinator as well as the Outreach Program Manager. My work with …
