Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History

The grant is specifically for scientific equipment and supplies for the Museum’s Watershed Guardians program. The Watershed Guardians program educates students on water's journey through the watershed, visits multiple parts of the river, and captures and records data on macroinvertebrates. Students learn about the life cycle of the steelhead trout, identify various macroinvertebrates and discuss human impacts on environmental health and water quality.

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Specifically, staff and students will explore long term water quality on the Carmel and Salinas Rivers and will build an online database for local watershed health and monitoring environmental changes. This free and inclusive hands-on educational program serves 6-12th grade students in Monterey County, with an emphasis on outreach to underserved communities and Title 1 school districts often facilitated with bus scholarships.

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The goals of Watershed Guardians include but are not limited to:

• Assessing human and environmental impacts on our watersheds, specifically, habitability of watersheds for federally threatened steelhead trout

• Providing valuable environmental monitoring data to relevant local agencies and organizations (e.g., California Department of Fish and Wildlife, CSUMB, Carmel River Steelhead Association, Big Sur Land Trust, Carmel River Watershed Conservancy, Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District, etc.) for data collection and further research

• Training and engaging students in researching and collecting necessary data and providing that information to partnering organizations, and educating institutions in hopes of preserving our natural resources

Via the Watershed Guardians program, students are encouraged to participate in research projects both in school and in their communities.

The Museum staff includes a trained GLOBE educator. Where data collection is consistent with GLOBE protocols, data will be reported to GLOBE.