April 2021 Bulletin

Earth Day is Every Day at AWG!

While AWG regrettably won't be hosting an Earth Day event this April due to the ongoing pandemic, that won't stop us from celebrating Earth Day today and every day!

To help share Earth Day possibilities, the Sierra Nevada Alliance created a webpage with events, educational opportunities, and direct actions for conservation impact from over 50 entities in the Sierra Nevada region. Check out the long list of ways to get involved over the week of April 19 to April 25 here.

AWG put together a kid-friendly Earth Day Challenge with fun and easy ways to reflect on and help our planet. Check out the flyer here and contact Mo Loden at awg.mo.loden@gmail.com to participate.

We look forward to hearing about your Earth Day actions!

In February, this gray wolf passed through Alpine County! In this month's Wander Your Watershed, learn where OR-93 has ventured since. Photo courtesy of Austin Smith, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs

Wander Your Watershed
Wandering Wolves
By Jordan Traverso, Deputy Director of Communications, Education and Outreach, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

At its core, the return of gray wolves to California after nearly 100 years is an ecological success. It showcases the resiliency of nature and a species capable of returning to historic habitat that covers much of the Golden State. At the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), we hope it’s a sign of positive habitat management, applying the right regulations and restrictions, and a well thought out conservation management plan created in preparation for their return. We always believed they would come back. For us, it was a matter of when, not if. But we also always knew it would be met with mixed emotion. I will get to that part in a bit.

Click here for the full article

Recreation—More to Discuss

At AWG's March 9 meeting, we heard from Carson Ranger District Recreation Officer Brian Hansen and Wildlife Biologist Shelly Blair about the recreational opportunities and management challenges on public lands in their purview (US Forest Service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife, respectively). Thank you, Brian and Shelly, for sharing your insights! If you missed these great presentations and the discussion, you can watch the recording here.

We've heard from our community that you'd like to continue the conversation on recreation, and to expand it beyond the last meeting's West Fork Carson focus. We are therefore going to postpone the fourth and final West Fork Carson River Vision Project forum on ranching until later this year so we can pick up where we left off. Note that we have extended this meeting's length to two hours.

Alpine County Recreation: Continuing the Conversation

Tuesday, May 11, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Please register in advance so that you can receive Zoom meeting information. You can tune in from either your computer or your phone.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

While this meeting will be a facilitated discussion, we recognize the challenges of having a community conversation at a meeting held virtually. Therefore, in advance of the meeting, we invite you to email Kimra with any concerns or questions you have related to recreation in Alpine County so we can bring them into the discussion.

We believe our watershed group is in a unique position to help expand cross-jurisdictional collaboration so we can work toward sustainable recreation in Alpine County. We hope this meeting will be a positive step in bringing together folks who love Alpine County's rich recreational opportunities—community members, visitors, public lands managers, and any other interested partners. We recommend that you peruse the recently released CALREC Vision to learn more about Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration to Advance Sustainable Outdoor Recreation in California.

Exploring Climate Data

The California Tahoe Conservancy recently released this Story Map: Tahoe’s Climate Future, and we think it's the perfect addition for this month’s Earth Day discussions. The map includes so many well-done interactive graphics and visuals about climate change and how it is impacting our region of the Sierra Nevada range.

Building Sustainable Trails

Have you wondered about the construction of elaborate bridges or stone staircases that enhance your hiking experience immensely? The Grover Hot Springs ADA Nature Trail was no easy feat either and required years of planning and hard work executed by California State Parks staff. Check out this presentation about the art and science of implementing the boardwalk at Grover Hot Springs State Park that offers visitors incredible views while creating more sustainable meadow-friendly trails.

Earth Day Ways to Give Locally

You can buy items needed for our programs on AWG's Amazon Wish List.

Every time you make a purchase using Amazon.com, you can help support AWG by buying through AmazonSmile. All you have to do is select Alpine Watershed Group, and remember to go to AmazonSmile to complete your purchase—you can even do your shopping seamlessly while on AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to AWG.

We are also in search of volunteers with recent web design experience. Our staff hope to do a major overhaul of the AWG website in 2021. Please contact Kimra at (775) 450-7457 or awg.kimra@gmail.com if you have expertise to lend.

Visit AWG’s Donate page for links to all of the ways to support AWG’s work.

DONATE NOW

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.

Until next time!

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.

PO Box 296 │ 50 Diamond Valley Road
Markleeville, CA | 96120 United States

This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.