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| Alpine Watershed Group protects, conserves, and restores the watersheds of Alpine County by promoting sustainable community and science-based collaborative solutions.
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| We don’t expect life to be easy, but over the last month or so it feels like there has been so much heartbreak in our watershed community. We can’t just send this newsletter out into cyberspace without acknowledging that. And without stating the obvious: Life is so fragile. In the past, when the hurt from the Tamarack Fire was very fresh, we heard that people took solace from planting trees. If you are able, please join us in coming together for Arbor Day 2026. Wishing you peace and hope.
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Forest Health Community Working Group Hosts Alpine County's Fourth Annual Arbor Day
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| Environmental Education with Diamond Valley Elementary School Students
By Headwaters Coordinator Bella Kurtz
The month of March presented Diamond Valley Elementary School (DVES) students with a variety of environmental education treats. The third-fourth grade class at DVES again got to experience the Trout in the Classroom program because of host Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) and thanks to Trout Unlimited Sagebrush Chapter funding procured by Trout Adventures, with AWG help funded by the California Coastal Commission Whale Tail Grants program. Rainbow trout eggs were delivered to the classroom in early 2026, and the students cared for the fish and watched them grow over approximately six weeks. On March 5, AWG Watershed Projects Coordinator Kelci Brown and I joined Trout Adventures President and Executive Director Kurt Zeilenga and a volunteer with both NDOW and Trout Adventures, Steve Budman, in the classroom to provide three trout related activities. Kelci and I led the trout vocabulary bingo activity which is always a huge hit—the students love shouting “TROUT!” instead of the usual “BINGO!” and love receiving special trout temporary tattoos as a prize. After Kurt’s mini-quiz on trout habitat needs, Kurt and Steve led two educational crafts—mock fly tying and gyotaku (a traditional form of Japanese art that originated in the mid-1800s as a way for fisherman to record the size and species of their catches).
Read the full article here.
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Rainbow trout fry in the DVES third-fourth grade classroom
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Students catch a crayfish at the benthic macroinvertebrate identification station
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From Our Natural & Working Lands Hub
The Central Sierra Land Stewards’ Resource Guide website is live! Check it out here. There’s a tool for landowners to find education, planning, and financial assistance programs in the counties covered by our Hub (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne, or AACT). And the survey that we wrote about in our last newsletter is housed on this website—our AACT Natural and Working Lands Hub is still seeking your input to help us improve services supporting the agricultural and working lands community across our region.
This year each county in our Hub is hosting a forest health workshop. If you are a forestland owner, please consider registering for the first workshop.
Trialing Forest Health Treatments Field Day
Saturday, May 9, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Jackson, CA
Flyer
What are natural and working lands? Natural and working lands are the forests, grasslands, shrublands, croplands, and watersheds, on both private and public lands, that sustain the livelihoods, communities, and ecological systems of the AACT region. Their resilience depends on the agricultural producers, land managers, and landowners who steward them, and the programs and services that support that stewardship.
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| Bountiful Blooms and Views
By Headwaters Coordinator Bella Kurtz
Have you all been noticing how many blooms have opened around Alpine County so far this spring? During a hike I took in eastern Alpine County on March 29, I observed 15 different species that were actively blooming! The species I observed in bloom were Austin’s desert parsley, bulbous woodland star, tall western groundsel, Alpine waterleaf, cold desert phlox, spreading phlox, goosefoot violet, reflexed rockcress, woodbeauty, woollypod milkvetch, Brown’s peony, mahala mat, small-flowered blue-eyed Mary, purple nightshade, and wavyleaf paintbrush. It is hard to pick a favorite from this list because each species is unique in its own way, but I narrowed it to my top three favorites (from this list!) below.
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Bulbous woodland star (Lithophragma glabrum)
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Alpine waterleaf (Hydrophyllum alpestre)
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Brown’s peony (Paeonia brownii)
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| Alpine County Stakeholder Assessment
The Forest Health Community Working Group webpage now features the final Alpine County Stakeholder Assessment. As a member of the collaborative, AWG staff look forward to discussing the recommendations and continuing to work with our community to improve the health of our forests. Stay tuned for ways to be involved besides planting trees on Arbor Day!
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| All Things Watersheds
Golden Mussels – Golden mussels are an invasive freshwater species not yet detected in the Eastern Sierra, and keeping them out is critical. They spread primarily by hitchhiking on boats, trailers, and gear that move between lakes and rivers. Once they are here, they are impossible to remove. Please explore the Eastern Sierra watercraft inspection and decontamination (WID) website here for more information. You can learn more about golden mussels and how to identify various aquatic species by visiting Clean Up The Lake’s new Aquatic Invasive Species Video Identification Toolkit here.
Biomass Pile – The biomass collection at Turtle Rock Park opened up early this year on March 21, for Saturdays only until April 11. Residents can now drop off woody debris and vegetation on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Depending on weather conditions, residents can continue to drop off materials until May 27. See the flyer for more information.
South Lake Tahoe Earth Day – Next Saturday, April 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the South Lake Tahoe Earth Day event will be held at Lake Tahoe Community College. AWG will have a booth where you can learn about how beavers help to restore waterways by facilitating reconnection with their floodplains. Do you know what a beaver dam analog is? Stop by our booth to find out, and to learn more about our upcoming events and projects.
Wá∙šiw Earth Day – The Washoe Environmental Protection Department will host Wá∙šiw Earth Day at the Stewart’s Community Gym on Saturday, May 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. View the flyer here.
Volunteer to Help with Aspen Monitoring – Check out this exciting project on California quaking aspen seed ecology, and find out how you can assist.
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| Upcoming AWG Events
Wednesday, April 29, 5:00 p.m. at Markleevilee Library – AWG Board Meeting
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| We are grateful for the financial support of all who love Alpine County. We are able to lead volunteer workdays and support community science data collection because of your generosity.
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AWG has earned a 2025 Gold Seal of Transparency with Candid! Check out our Nonprofit Profile here.
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Ways to Connect or HelpWe always love to hear from our watershed community! Below are email links to reach AWG's staff, or reach us at AWG's office at (530) 694-2327. Please follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Contact Us!
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| A quick note for Gmail users:
To get our monthly bulletin email sent to your "Inbox" instead of "Promotions,"
click and drag the email over to your "Primary" tab.
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