Shasta County Students Explore Area Ecology During "Creek Day"

On April 20, NRCS participated in an exciting local Earth Day event, sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management. And fourth through eighth grade students from Redding’s Chrysalis, Mistletoe, and Shasta Meadows schools got a valuable opportunity to learn by doing in a dynamic outdoor laboratory along Clear Creek.

This three-hour educational activity, appropriately named "Kids in the Creek Day," was held on a beautifully restored segment of the Lower Clear Creek Stream Restoration and Salmon Habitat Enhancement Project.

The $9 million, multi-phased Lower Creek Restoration Project is reversing the negative impact of past mining and gravel extraction, improving spawning habitat for salmon, and restoring the health and function of the Clear Creek watershed. It is a cooperative effort led by the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District (RCD) in cooperation with NRCS and other partners.

More than 90 students participated, moving through five stations, each demonstrating different aspects of area ecology. NRCS provided a Soil Science station, staffed by Earth Team member Denise Lerner and Soil Conservation Technician Erik Kennedy from the Redding Service Center. Through hands-on experience and locally collected samples, students learned about the process of soil formation and the importance of soil conservation and also discovered how to determine soil texture by feel.

Western Shasta RCD ran three of the learning stations — Watersheds, Rock and Rivers, and Restoration — which explaining various aspects of the Clear Creek restoration and its effect on the watershed. Chrysalis Charter School ran the fifth station, called "Creek Critters," where students learned about the wide variety and importance of creatures in and around Clear Creek.

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