February 2021 Bulletin

Celebrating Black History Month

In honor of Black History Month, we celebrate and applaud two black environmentalists who are contributing to the field of bird-watching. Birding is a delightful hobby that allows you to intimately connect with nature while collecting data that helps determine habitat and migration patterns of various species. The field has long been dominated by white individuals but these men are helping break those molds.

John C. Robinson, a professional ornithologist, began his career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1979 to 1988 and since then has worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. Early on in his work, John was often regarded as the first African American birder other ornithologists had encountered. His keen sense of sight and sound coupled with his phonographic memory paved a concrete foundation for his passion for bird-watching. John has spent his latter years dedicated to and advocating for expanding the field of bird-watching to be a more inclusive community. He has written and published several birding books, but his 2008 Birding for Everyone: Encouraging People of Color to Become Birdwatchers really expresses his enthusiasm for diversifying the field.

Drew Lanham, another influential black birder who is also a professor and poet, recalls in his earliest memories being fascinated with birds. His interest continued to grow, but when it came to his studies, he felt he should pick a more “Black occupation" than birding. However, he eventually listened to his instincts and changed his major to follow his passion of zoology at Clemson University, the same college at which he now teaches. In 2013, Drew wrote “9 Rules for the Black Birdwatcher” for Orion Magazine which drew more attention than anticipated. The column led to a video post on BirdNote's Facebook page in 2015 and at the time was the single-most liked and shared of any BirdNote post ever. He, like John C. Robinson, is committed to normalizing diversity in the great outdoors, making the joy of birding more accessible to people of color, and wants there to be equal opportunity to explore nature.

Wander Your Watershed
Restoring North America’s Rarest Trout
The Story of Paiute Cutthroat Trout Recovery in Silver King Creek
By Leslie Alber, Senior Environmental Scientist, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Paiute Cutthroat Trout are regarded as the rarest trout in North America, occupying a native range of only 11 miles of Silver King Creek between Llewellyn Falls and Snodgrass Creek in Alpine County, CA. The area is remote in the backcountry of the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness. Early records of Paiute Cutthroat Trout date back to the late 1800s, but by the early part of the twentieth century they had been extirpated from their native range and faced extinction. The history of Paiute Cutthroat Trout is not without a combination of threats, including habitat fragmentation, unregulated angling, overgrazing, climate change, and wildfire, but competition and hybridization with introduced trout is the primary reason for their extirpation from their native range. Only by chance were Paiute Cutthroat Trout saved from extinction by Basque sheepherders who moved them above Llewellyn Falls, a natural barrier to fish passage, allowing government agencies and advocates the opportunity to recover the species and reintroduce them to their native range.

Click here for the full article

Save the Date!

Please join us for our upcoming virtual watershed group meeting.

Recreation: Trends, Impacts, and Solutions for the West Fork Carson Watershed

Wednesday, March 9, 2021

5:30-7:00 p.m.

We will be using Zoom, so you can tune in from either your computer or your phone.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

This meeting is part of the West Fork Carson River Vision Project process led by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board. We will be hearing presentations on recreation-related issues in the West Fork Carson River watershed. Join us to hear about where we are headed with these issues, especially in terms of COVID-19-related recreation trends, and what we can do to mitigate them.

If you have thoughts on recreation or other watershed issues you would like to share, we would love to hear from you via the AWG Watershed Project Ideas survey!

For more information, contact Ky at (530) 694-2327 or awg.ky.osguthorpe@gmail.com.

AWG has been wishing upon a star!

Thank you to everyone who donated to AWG in 2020. We appreciate and depend on this support. Following are some more ways you can contribute to our good work.

Would it warm your heart to fill a specific AWG need? You can buy items needed for our programs on our 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

Don't Miss a Thing

Subscribe to AWG's YouTube Channel! During these remote-working days, we are providing as much as we can on our YouTube channel so you can tune in whenever is good for you. Last month we released these important Alpine County watershed-related videos. Check them out, and let us know what you think.

Bird's-Eye View Drone Footage of the Hope Valley Project

A big thank you to our partners at Carson Water Subconservancy District, specifically Shane Fryer, who donated time to provide drone footage of the project pre-construction and during construction. In coordination with California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Alpine Watershed Group implemented the Hope Valley Restoration and Aquatic Habitat Enhancement Project during October 2020.

AWG's Most Recent Public Meeting

We hosted a discussion aimed at determining watershed priorities and figuring out which voices are missing at the (virtual) table on January 12, 2021.

Attendees also watched the short, inspiring film "Ranching in the New Normal" to learn about new approaches to ranching in Colorado given climate change.

It's not too late to submit your ideas! Please fill out the AWG Watershed Project Ideas Survey.

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Until next time!

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

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