A Corning High student prepares native plant seedlings © Richard Neill

Although many students at Corning Union High School grew up playing in the creek banks and orchards of the Northern Sacramento River Valley, it wasn't until one of the school's biology classes took part in The Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship (SLEWS) program that they began to see the connection between nature and their community's quality of life.

There’s no better way to learn about local habitats and endangered species than by getting your hands dirty in your “own backyard.” Thirty students from a rural high school learned that—and a lot more—last year as they joined The Nature Conservancy to restore important habitat along the Sacramento River.

"Long-term conservation success is attainable only with the support of local communities."

It's all part of a program administered by a Conservancy partner, The Center for Land-based Learning, which offers outside-the-classroom learning experiences in natural and agricultural systems.

" Long-term conservation success is attainable only with the support of local communities," says Dawit Zeleke, director of the Conservancy's Sacramento River project.

That's why, since 2000, the Conservancy has worked closely on restoration projects with more than 900 students from Sacramento River area school districts and other local educational programs.

"They've helped us replant sites along the river and participated in intensive environmental education both in the field and in the classroom," Zeleke says. In its first year with the program in Northern California, the Conservancy donated space in its Chico office for use by the SLEWS program coordinator. The Conservancy then cleared and prepared more than 200 acres of an old walnut orchard, setting aside one corner of the site for Corning Union High School students to replant. In five field visits over the school year, the school's biology class learned the importance of removing invasive plants and re-vegetating the mixed riparian environment with native species.

The students planted 10 native species, including sycamore trees, box elders and Oregon ash. They took creekside nature hikes, learned how to perform water quality tests and how to build and install wood duck boxes. And they were trained in seed collecting, plant propagation, and installing irrigation equipment.

	Rows of newly-planted native plants © Richard Neill

This coming academic year, the Conservancy will work with students from high schools in Paradise and Chico to replant sections of the Sunset Ranch in Butte County and the Southam property in Glenn County.

For more information about SLEWS and The Center for Land-based Learning, visit: www.landbasedlearning.org.

Where It is:

In Northern California, SLEWS focuses on a 100-mile stretch of flood-prone lands along the Sacramento River between Red Bluff and Colusa. That's where the Conservancy and other partners oversee one of the country's largest riparian restoration projects.

How It Works:

By adopting a SLEWS project site, high school biology classes commit to a year-long conservation project on a private farm or ranch. The program coordinator works with teachers to determine how to introduce or emphasize classroom concepts in the field.

SLEWS program staff, local mentors, and employees from the Conservancy and River Partners work side by side with students to restore grassland, wetlands and riparian habitats. In the process, the students develop critical thinking skills, social responsibility and respect for the interplay of food production, culture and nature.