Sarah Angulo - UC Davis School of Education (2024)

With the Caring for Clear Lake project coming to an end this July, the UC Davis team reflects on collaborating with Tribesand thecommunity in co-developing environmental education materials that integrate local participatory science projects. We sharehow the community engagementprocess evolved andguidedthe frameworks used for structuring the materials.

In March, the UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science and Center for Regional Changefacilitated a two-day training in Lakeport witheducators and partners from across theregion as part of theCaring for Clear Lakeproject. The training is a milestone for the two-year project,approved by Blue Ribbon Committee for the Rehabilitation of Clear Lake and funded by the California Natural Resources Agency.

“Bye, Spaghetti!” waved one high schooler as a tiny Chinkook salmon, so named Spaghetti, swam out of a plastic cup and into the murky Sacramento River. Acrossthe boat ramp at Riverbend Park in Oroville, students saidtheir farewells to the alevin in their own cups. This was the last chance for students to get an up close of the fish they spent raising in their classroom over the last 6 weeks.

At the Center for Community and Citizen Science, we love connecting people with opportunities for authentic science engagement. Every so often, we get to participate ourselves! Saturday, September 9, staff from the Center went to Effie Yeaw Nature Center at Ancil Hoffman County Park in Carmichael. We met colleagues from the California Academy of Sciences who were hosting a bioblitz alongside the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Natural Resources Agency.

Starting a collaborative community and citizen science project with high schools is no small feat. Try starting it during the pandemic. That’s what we did with the Center’s collaboration with GEAR UP STEM Rural Valley PartnershipSpinning Salmon in the Classroom project. After managing a yearof distance learning in 2021 and piloting in-person content in 2022, we had so much we were excited to dothis year.

The Center for Community and Citizen Scienceis excited to once again host the City Nature Challenge for theSacramento Region. As community and citizen scienceinitiatives build momentum around the world, this year’s eighth annual City Nature Challenge includes more than 450 cities across six continents. Kicking off April 28 at 12:01 am in each time zone, the Challenge runs through May 1, 11:59 pm.

Just shy of 20 intrepid UC Davis students braved the cold for a morning Bioblitz at the UC Davis Arboretumin February. The purpose of thisevent was to introduceiNaturalist, practice making observations, and explore the nature in the Arboretum together. It wasorganizedfor The Wildlife Society club at UC Davis, with Laci Gerhartand Sarah Angulo facilitating.

It’s a cold February morning at River Bend Park in Oroville. We’re standing with UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences’ Carson Jeffres, waiting patiently for the bus to arrive from Red Bluff High School. A truck towing a boat backs down the boat ramp where we’re waiting to meet the high school studentsthat have participated in the Spinning Salmon in the Classroom project this winter.

Since July 2022, the Center for Community and Citizen Science has been steadily working on a project in collaboration with the UC Davis Center for Regional Change to build capacity for environmental education (EE) and community and citizen science (CCS) in the Clear Lake region.