Creek Days is an annual multi-day outdoor education fair for Humboldt County school groups and community members.The event is a cooperative effort between the AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project and the Eel River Watershed Improvement Group. Funding is typically provided through a grant from the California Department of Fish and Game and supplemented by a variety of generous local donors.Funds are used to increase the educational capacity of the event and to assist with school transportation costs. Location of the event alternates between Bull Creek, Humboldt Redwoods State Park and Pamplin Grove, Van Duzen County Park.
The mission of Creek Days is to provide students with a day outside to discover and interact with their watershed. During this week of watershed exploration, students and community members join Watershed Stewards Project docents on guided hikes through redwood forests and along streams. Attendees spend approximatley four hours hiking through the tall trees, investigating the creek and participating in activities at a variety of booths. Booth presentations include aquatic macroinvertebrates; soils and geology; tools of the trade; sustainability; native/non-native plants; scat and tracks; wildlife and birds; human impacts; fluvial geomorphology; watershed processes and more! The keystone connection to salmon is a theme woven throughout the day.
Sneak a Peak at Creek Days Fun!
What happened at this year's Creek Days event? Over 400 students from 11 schools, ranging from Blue Lake and Trinidad in the north to Weott in the south, spent their days investigating the Van Duzen's macroinvertebrate population; blending smoothies with pedal power; sorting rocks and discussing soil formation; building landscapes and watching the water carve them away; taking a closer look at the towering trees; planting native seeds to take home; measuring trees with an ecologist from the Headwaters Reserve Forest; learning about animal signs and making their own scat; meeting a Great Horned, Spotted and Saw Whet Owl from the Humboldt Wildlife Care Center; using field tools....and best of all discovering why salmon need trees and how each of us can be a Watershed Steward!
