Alpine Watershed Group

A total of 265 volunteers participated in 15 different monitoring and restoration activities during 2023, contributing approximately 705 volunteer hours. In 2023 AWG staff led an environmental education field trip for 55 local school children. AWG received the Forest Service 2022 Volunteers Program Citizen Stewardship and Partnerships Award.Monitoring Programs: AWG River Monitor volunteers and staff continued to conduct water quality monitoring at eight sites in the Upper Carson River watershed, measuring stream temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, and conductivity. We continued the harmful algal bloom monitoring program initiated in 2019, collecting samples for four consecutive months at Red Lake. We also continued post-project photo monitoring for the Hope Valley Restoration and Aquatic Habitat Enhancement Project, which was constructed in October 2020. We continued to conduct post-Tamarack Fire monitoring at Grover Hot Springs State Park and in the Musser and Jarvis watershed, and we conducted meadow health assessments of three meadows. We initiated seedling survivability surveys in the Tamarack Fire burn scar, with the intent of determining restoration planting success. We continued aspen regeneration monitoring associated with a fuels reduction project in the West Fork Carson River watershed.Restoration Projects: AWG hosted the annual Creek Day community workday on September 23, 2023; a total of 52 volunteers worked at five project sites hauling out trash, thinning vegetation to reduce fuels, and building a beaver dam analog. We partnered to lead two community tree planting workdays in burned areas, planting approximately 1,250 trees.Education and Community Outreach: AWGs community outreach and education program included distribution of a monthly newsletter, holding watershed group meetings, website maintenance, social media posts, tabling at community events, and presence at regional conferences. We restarted our youth environmental education program. We were instrumental in starting the Forest Health Community Working Group to make progress over the long-term on improving forest health and resilience; this included helping to host two community meetings and two public field trips. We also began hosting two California Climate Action Corps Fellows, which broadened our outreach to a statewide level.