Monthly Activity Calendar
October
Theme
What is a Watershed?
Read: “What is a Watershed” section in Circles & Cycles
Topics
Role of USFWS, CAFW, water cycle, watershed definition and concepts (surface, water, groundwater, where water flows, delineating watersheds, stream order, how water connects people, wildlife and mountains to the sea)
Activities involving Facilities
Site Visit #1: Speaker to classroom or video on Watershed.
November
Theme
What else is in a watershed?
Read:
“Meet Your Watershed” videos on our Watershed Videos and Slideshows page
Mokelumne River Slideshow from our CAEP resources page.
Topics
Introduction to hatcheries; living things depend on water; aquatic habitats (uplands, wetlands, lakes, rivers, estuaries, oceans, riparian zones); river forms (geomorphology, parts of a river, instream habitats)
Activities involving Facilities
Field Trip: Students visit a salmon hatchery or other location for spawning demonstration
Theme
Aquatic Ecosystems
Read:
The Winters and Wildlands lesson found on our Circles and Cycles website
Topics
Energy sources; food chains and webs; predator-prey relationships; biodiversity-stability; survival strategies; examples of aquatic organisms
December
Theme
Pacific salmon natural history-Incubation of a “salmon family”
Read:
The Winters and Wildlands lesson found on our Circles and Cycles website
Topics
Pacific salmon characteristics (physical, behavioral, natural history); anadromous fish life cycles; incubator as temporary/ artificial habitat; incubator operation
Activities involving Facilities
Site Visit #2: Presentation about Pacific salmon life cycle and incubator operation: salmon egg delivery.
January
Theme
Rivers: For people too
Read:
The California Water Story lesson found on our Circles and Cycles website
The Water Here, Water There lesson found on our Circles and Cycles website
The California Water Story YouTube video
Topics
Settlement patterns, historical uses in California (pre-European settlement, industrialization), present day uses (drinking water, hydropower, industry waste disposal, irrigation, recreation, nature study)
February
Theme
Human threats and impacts on a watershed
Read:
The Give and Take, Water and Soil: All About Soil Erosion lesson found on our Circles and Cycles website
The Land for Life lesson found on our Circles and Cycles website
Topics
Sources of pollution: non-point vs. point, (run-off, septic, agricultural, acid rain, etc) altering flow, temperature, and composition of stream bed; impacts on salmon (dams, over fishing, and pollution); other threats, including Endangered Species
Activities involving Facilities
Fry Stocking Field Trip: Student visit local stream to release their salmon family
March
Theme
Water Quality Monitoring
Read:
The Teaming Up for Clean Water: A Water Quality Study lesson found on our Circles and Cycles website
The Aquatic Animal Adaptations lesson found on our Circles and Cycles website
Our Entomology page
Topics
Finding out about water by looking at physical characteristics (temp, depth, width, flow, turbidity); chemical characteristics (DO, pH); bio- indicators of water quality (macro invertebrates, mussels, salmon)
April
Theme
Taking Action
Topics
Citizen stewardship actions (kids AND adults), professional stewards (environmental careers); role of government (legislation (ESA, etc.), habitat acquisition protection (refuges) recovery efforts, environmental cleanup; values/benefits of a healthy environment (ecological, recreation, economic, aesthetic philosophical)
Activities involving Facilities
Site Visit #3: Sport fishing demonstration