Upper Deschutes Watershed Council
$46,000  East Cascades 

Watershed Community Stewardship (WCS) will create meaningful conservation education opportunities for students and community members in Central Oregon. By participating in WCS, students and community members will acquire watershed knowledge and will develop an increased sense of environmental awareness and empowered habitat stewardship. WCS is designed to guide project participants to develop informed watershed stewardship and all program activities are aligned with the conservation strategies for Conservation Opportunity Areas to help community members and students learn ways that they can restore and protect habitat for Oregon Conservation Strategy Species. Providing students and community members with quality opportunities to directly experience their watershed through hands-on conservation activities will inform how them how to interact in recreation spaces, develop stewardship responsibility, and gain a connection to the natural world. We will use support from OCRF to coordinate program delivery for 90 community members and 500 local students from under resourced schools in Bend, La Pine, and Sisters. We will work with local partners to guide students and community members to gain watershed knowledge and new stewardship skills. Specifically, our learning activities are designed to guide students and community members to examine current watershed issues, learn about habitat needs for steelhead and the Oregon spotted frog, understand impacts to water quality, and become familiar with local organizations involved in conservation and watershed management. Students and community members will participate in riparian and wetland plantings in Conservation Opportunity Areas on Whychus Creek and the Deschutes River and be a part of stewardship efforts that will benefit their community and our watershed for generations. WCS projects will instill a sense of stewardship in participants to motivate them care for natural places and make responsible recreation choices.