May is officially designated as Watershed Awareness Month in California, with the goal of emphasizing the importance of watershed education and stewardship activities at the local community level.  In 2008, the Cache Creek Nature Preserve served as a beautiful, accessible and educational venue for the second annual Cache Creek Discovery Day.  The free one-day outdoor learning event was attended by over 160 residents from Yolo, Colusa, Lake, and other Bay Area counties, who had come to enjoy the watershed amongst the oak woodlands, wetlands and riparian habitat that has been restored at the Cache Creek Nature Preserve.

Discovery Day is designed for all ages with special emphasis on providing hands-on outdoor learning opportunities for elementary school-aged youth, with a broad range of topics relevant to the watershed. With 12 learning-stations, two guided hikes, and reptile and raptor presentations in the old barn, visitors had plenty of activities to explore, and enjoyed taking a rest at lunchtime listening to the Flatland String Band and Kent Reeves’ cowboy poetry.

Cooling off and doing some creek-wading at the bio-monitoring station was a very popular destination among all ages, where visitors collected streambottom critters such as mayfly and dragonfly larvae as living indicators of water quality. 

Along the path overlooking the wetlands, students tried their hand at playing water- use Monopoly, identifying local mammal tracks & native plants, weaving a Tule bracelet, and hands-on hydrology by carving their own channel at the stream table.

The event was organized and hosted by the Cache Creek Watershed Forum, a tri-county group of natural resource, agricultural and educational partners who meet bi-monthly to share information and develop regional, collaborative strategies to improve watershed health. Members include US BLM, Lake and Yolo Counties, East and West Lake RCD, Colusa and Yolo County RCD, Rumsey and Robinson Rancherias, Cache Creek Conservancy, Cache Creek Watershed Stakeholders Group, Tuleyome, Area Sierra Club and Audubon Society chapters, and Yolo Co. Flood Control and Water Conservation District.

 Support for the event was provided by CCWF members’ CALFED Watershed Program grants, Yolo County Dept. of Parks and Natural Resources, and an anonymous donor. Additional thanks go to Good Humus Farms, Fully Belly Farms, Three Docs Ranch and Manas Ranch for local produce, Woodland High School FFA for a BBQ lunch and Boy Scout Troop 68 & CCNP volunteers.  We are looking forward to hosting next year’s event at Anderson Marsh in Lake County.