AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project
1455-C Sandy Prairie Court
Fortuna, CA 95540
(707) 725-8601
(707) 725-8602 - fax
wsp.info@ccc.ca.gov
US Forest Service Six Rivers National Forest Supervisor's Office - Eureka
Mailing Address
1330 Bayushore Way
Eureka, CA 95501
(707) 442-1721
(707) 441-3551 (fax)
Mission Statement
The official Forest Service mission is “Serving the people and caring for the land”. Essentially the mission of the Forest Service is to secure the health of National Forests for future generations. The Forest Service was founded over 100 years ago as a reaction to turn of the century abusive forestry practices back in Europe and the east coast USA. The Forest Service has evolved its mission over the past 100 years to balance its multiple use mission (timber products, grazing, recreation) with ensuring sustainable habitat and resilient watersheds. The agency is still changing in the face of new challenges such as climate change and its associated impacts on wildfire, communities and watershed health.
Major Projects
There are a variety of projects that arise depending on the nature of the next years work priorities and winter indoor work versus summer field work. Office work during winter: 1. Preparing and consolidating watershed restoration plans for water quality impaired watersheds 2. Assisting in developing long-term water quality monitoring plan associated with impaired watersheds. 3. Work involves report writing, data analysis (GIS, work, excel etc). Summer field work: 1. Road sedimentation risk inventories; 2. Stream condition trend monitoring; 3. Validation of fish presence/absence across the Six Rivers National Forest 4. Project support on field data for vegetation management projects and Best Management Practices monitoring. Summer work involves camping, hiking, long drives through mountain terrain.
Examples of Work
WSP members have conducted are variety of work while working for the Six Rivers Watershed Program. Previous work includes: • Landslide trend and source analysis using areal photos and GIS • Watershed restoration overview of National Forests in California •Storm Report on impacts of 2006 storms on roads and watersheds on Six Rivers • Watershed-road condition inventories for the purposes of watershed restoration planning • Watershed analysis exploring the characteristics and sensitivities of soils and wildfires in the Camp and Bluff Creek watersheds • Watershed analysis exploring the history of landslides and riparian health in Bluff Creek watershed • Grazing impacts to stream bank stability in the North Fork Eel watershed • Macroinvertabrate sampling to determine effects of sedimentation associated with road decommissioning • Stream condition inventories (cross sections, pebble counts, shade, etc)
