SLEWS Program | Sacramento Valley | January 21st, 2021
Location of the Field Day:
River Garden Farms
Partners/Landowners:
River Garden Farms
Audubon California
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Participating School:
Woodland High School
Mentors:
Fanny Ye, NRCS
Jared Borba, UC Davis
Katy Dynarski, UC Davis Soils and Biogeochemistry
Laura McGowan, UC Davis Atmospheric Science
Ross Brennan, UC Davis Entomology
Accomplishments: 200 shrubs planted



Summary of the Day:
Twelve Woodland High School students accompanied teacher Jerry Delsol to a cool, foggy riparian habitat restoration site for their second of three SLEWS days at River Garden Farms. The goals for the day were to help staff from River Garden Farms, Audubon California and US Fish & Wildlife plant a variety of different trees and shrubs native to the area, and to learn about some of the bird and mammal species that will benefit from these habitat restoration efforts.
After an Opening Circle and planting demonstration provided by Matthew Danielczek of Audubon California, the students divided into four groups and focused on planting native shrubs and trees along two rows of drip irrigation that they had installed during their first visit in October. The Woodland high school students upheld their reputation of being hard-working as they planted about 200 trees and shrubs alongside their UC-Davis mentors in saturated clay soils. As they moved along the irrigation line, students got to choose which species to plant from a variety of 16 different trees and shrubs, and made sure to alternate shrubs and trees to reduce competition for sunlight. Once the plants were in the ground and quality control was completed, River Garden Farms staff were on hand to install the emitters that will deliver water to each of the plants during the summer dry season. The collaboration resulted in an efficient habitat restoration operation!
Students were rewarded for their efforts with some sunshine and a hearty lunch of burritos sunshine before the focus shifted from habitat restoration to learning about native species that will benefit from this riparian habitat planting. Everyone played a game of “Who Am I?” to learn about different bird, mammal and plant species native to the Sacramento Valley. Once they identified the identity of the species on the card they were given, each student shared a fun fact about their species based on the information on the back of their card. To wrap up the day, SLEWS Coordinator Matt Lechmaier shared some study skins and animal artifacts of some interesting wildlife native to the area.
During their third and final SLEWS day scheduled for Thursday, March 16th, restoration efforts will include finishing the irrigation system and installing wildlife nesting structures, and learning activities will include soil testing and learning from mentors about their education and work experience.
Thanks to everyone for everyone’s contribution to a fun and successful day. A special thanks to Jeremy Channel Ferree for documenting the day’s accomplishments and for representing River Garden Farms staff. His blog and Facebook posts can be found here:
http://www.rivergardenfarms.com/news/river-garden-farms-has-its-second-slews-day/
https://www.facebook.com/rivergardenfarms/