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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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The fourth annual Arbor Day event in Alpine County led by the Forest Health Community Working Group (FHCWG) was the largest yet with 184 participants! On April 24 volunteers planted 60 pinyon pine seedlings, provided by the Washoe Environmental Protection Department (WEPD), and approximately 800 Jeffrey pine seedlings, donated by the Sugar Pine Foundation and sponsored by Liberty Utilities, around Indian Creek Day Use Area. A shout out to the 56 students from South Tahoe High School, their inspiring teacher, and Lake Tahoe Community College students for their assistance. We are grateful to the volunteers who helped with this reforestation effort in the Tamarack Fire burn scar on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. We acknowledge that time is arguably our greatest resource, and that volunteers—the human resource—who devote their time to help with restoration efforts are one of the most important components of healing and restoring lands that need our thoughtful and generous interactions after catastrophic and devastating wildfires.
FHCWG partners include Alpine County, Alpine Biomass Collaborative, Alpine Fire Safe Council, Alpine Trails Association, AWG, BLM, CAL FIRE, US Forest Service, and WEPD. We are a collaborative working to create fire-safe communities and to restore our forests and watersheds to a healthy and resilient state, and we strive to engage community members and build new partnerships.
Alpine County has received generous support from Sierra Nevada Conservancy via the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program through a grant awarded by the California Department of Conservation. This funding has helped Alpine County and Alpine Watershed Group provide administrative support for our collaborative's work.
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ATTENTION BOATERS!Golden mussels are an invasive freshwater species native to Asia 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.
Please take proper precautions this Memorial Day weekend by cleaning, draining, and drying your watercraft before moving from one body of water to another.
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| Volunteer Opportunities
Are you passionate about watershed health, and do you enjoy talking to people? The Market at Markleeville season is upon us, and we need help to be able to have an AWG table at every market (May 30, June 27, July 25, August 29, and September 19). We will provide you with training and resources! If these Saturdays aren’t good for you, but tabling is intriguing, we have other community outreach opportunities to put your talents to good use.
If you are passionate about making sure recyclables don’t end up in landfill, and don’t mind hauling trash and recyclables in the hot sun, then the Death Ride volunteer gig for you is at Turtle Rock Park on July 10 and 11 with AWG.
Email Kimra now to volunteer!
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Headwaters Coordinator Bella Kurtz tabling at the May 2024 Market at Markleeville
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Kaitlyn Garber moving an aluminum can to the correct disposal bin during Death Ride 2024
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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). The Central Sierra Agriculture & Working Lands Survey housed on this website is still open, and we invite you to provide input to help us improve services supporting the agricultural and working lands community across our region.
Are you a rancher, grazier, or rangeland manager in Alpine or Douglas County? If so, we would love to have you join us for an in-field Rangeland Health Series event on June 27 in Markleeville, CA! At the event, you will have the opportunity to discuss and learn about adaptive management strategies from other local ranchers. Email kelci@alpinewatershedgroup.org for more details and to register today.
If you are a forestland owner, please consider registering for the second Forest Health Stewardship series workshop. You didn’t have to attend prior workshops in the series to participate, and registration is free (including lunch)!
Long Term Forest Health & Wildfire Resilience Field Day
Saturday, June 13, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
RailRoad Flat, CA
Flyer
Mark your calendar for the Alpine County forest health workshop on Saturday, July 25. Contact neil@alpinewatershedgroup.org to receive the event flyer when it is finalized.
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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East Fork Carson Prioritization Project UpdateIn the AWG December 2025 newsletter, AWG expressed our gratitude to Friends of Hope Valley for an extremely generous donation that AWG is using toward the required match so we can accept a $250,000 State Water Resources Control Board Nonpoint Source Grant for the East Fork Carson Prioritization Project. Over the last several months, AWG has been working with the State Water Board to finalize the scope of work and schedule for this project so that we can finalize the grant agreement and move forward. Like the recently completed West Fork Carson Prioritization Project, this planning project will provide a blueprint for future implementation work in this upper watershed for AWG and our partners.
In addition to the gift from Friends of Hope Valley, AWG secured grants from two foundations to achieve the full 25% required match. AWG is proud and thankful to have been among the first round of grantees receiving funding from the Sierra Nevada Foundation, a fund of the El Dorado Community Foundation. We are immensely grateful to the Bently Foundation for providing the balance of the support needed. We are humbled to have garnered the respect and support to allow our small nonprofit organization to do this foundational work. Thank you!
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| West Fork Carson Vision Plan Update
In October 2023, the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board (LRWQCB) approved the West Fork Carson Vision Plan, which is an alternative to developing a total maximum daily load (TMDL) to address water quality impairments. As part of the process, the LRWQCB will release annual updates on progress towards goals set in the plan. The latest update can be found starting on page 7 in the March 2026 Executive Officer’s Report released by LRWQCB.
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| Bountiful Blooms and Views
By Headwaters Coordinator Bella Kurtz
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On Tuesday, May 5, I observed Lemmon’s onion (Allium lemmonii) growing in beautiful, lush patches at Turtle Rock Park. I am not sure why, but blooming wild onions are one of my favorite finds to see each year—it is probably because I love pink-purple flowers and the way the bell-shaped flowers are arranged in umbels. An umbel is a cluster of flowers where individual flower stalks spread out from a single common point. This botanical term comes from the Latin word for parasol.
On Monday, May 18, I took a walk through Faith Valley near the area where American Rivers’ beaver dam analog project is located. Two of my favorite flowers that I frequently see in this area are meadow stars (Hesperochiron nanus) and Alpine shooting stars (Primula tetrandra)—the meadow star blooms were very abundant, but the shooting stars were just starting to bud and bloom (see the banner photo at the top of the newsletter to see what the shooting stars look like). The meadow stars tend to be white but if you look long enough and close enough you may see some that are pink!
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Lemmon's onion
(Allium lemmonii)
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meadow star
(Hesperochiron nanus)
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meadow star
(Hesperochiron nanus)
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| All Things Watersheds
Restoring Mountain Meadows – Check out this fantastic 15-minute film by American Rivers, which includes gorgeous footage of the recent Faith Valley Meadow Restoration Project with its beaver dam analogs (BDAs), and also dives deep into the restoration work at Ackerson Meadow. Short on time? The highlights from the Faith Valley work are also presented in this 90-second video.
Mountain Lion Activity – Mountain lions are a natural part of our ecosystem. However, increased sightings and incidences in homes, recreation areas, livestock facilities, and communities serve as an important reminder that Alpine County residents and visitors live, work, and recreate in predator country. Please check out this flyer for safety tips and information on when, how, and to whom you should make a sighting report.
Biomass Pile – Residents can drop off woody debris and vegetation at the Turtle Rock Park biomass collection area during normal operations (Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays). Depending on weather conditions, residents can continue to drop off materials until May 27. See the flyer for more information and for the specific times that residents can drop off materials.
California Beaver Coexistence Webinar – Are you interested to learn about how beaver coexistence can build capacity for land managers and land owners in California? Register here for the California Beaver Coexistence Training and Support Program’s webinar featuring coexistence experts and practitioners, coming up on the morning of June 10.
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| Upcoming AWG Events
Wednesday, June 24, 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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