Watershed Education

Klamath Youth Stewardship Project

Students of the KSOS overlook a map of the Marble Mountain Wilderness area at Haypress Meadows.

Klamath-Siskiyou Outdoor School

The Klamath-Siskiyou Outdoor School empowers students to become stewards of the natural environment while simultaneously having a significant teambuilding experience that fosters cooperation and respect. This cost-free camp facilitates youth participation in natural resource restoration projects during camp rafting and backpacking trips. MKWC staff and local natural resource professionals from the Klamath Basin assist students in learning a wide range of hands-on topics from the importance of Freshwater Mussels to the salmon life-cycle and water quality in the Klamath River, to identifying and removing invasive plants in wilderness areas.

Students gather during a river clean-up raft trip to discuss how long certain items of trash take to decompose.

Restoration Raft Trips

Cost-free raft trips offered to local youth, where students learn about river ecology and participate in hands-on restoration projects that benefit salmon habitat. Some of these activities include fish passage improvement, riparian planting, invasive weed removal, and trash clean-up. Numerous trips are offered throughout the summer months, and are contracted through local rafting companies.

Kayaking Courses

In partnership with Whitman College, KYSP offers cost-free kayaking courses to local youth. Participants learn about white-water safety, kayaking skills from certified instructors, and Klamath River ecology while sampling freshwater mussels for a scientific research project.

During a field trip to Aikens creek, students learn about juvenile salmonids life history and identification. Students also had an opportunity to collect outmigrating juveniles with seine nets and identify them.

In-class curriculum and field trips

KYSP instructs watershed education in local schools in the Mid Klamath region. Emphasis is placed on standards-based, in-class learning about watershed related topics coupled with participation in hands on salmonid restoration projects and the resource specialists implementing them. These instructions give local youth an opportunity to participate in habitat restoration, riparian monitoring, and natural resources career development while simultaneously fulfilling California State Standards.

A local student records population and redd count data to be used by the Forest Service, during one of KYSP's Fall Spawning Surveys on Camp Creek.

Fall Chinook Spawning Surveys

In Partnership with the Karuk Tribe, KYSP's coordinator takes students on weekly salmon surveys during the fall months. Students collect useable data for the Forest Service and learn about salmonids life history and spawning and habitat requirements.

Fish Trap

Students participate in ongoing data collection at the USFS downstream migrant fish trap on Camp Creek. Students measure temperature, dissolved oxygen, and river flow as well as sample, measure, and identify outmigrating fish. Weekly watershed monitoring help students better understand salmonid life history and develop regionally appropriate career skills.

Youth participants learn how to make a willow basket with one of KYSP's community instructors.

Panamnik Building Thursdays

With the help of community volunteers, KYSP offers cost-free courses for youth to develop life skills associated with local recreation venues and natural resource job skills during the summer months. Every Thursday a community specialist offers a workshop of this type at MKWC's community building and watershed center. Activities range from Willow Basketry and Native Plants to Photography or Bicycle Repair and Maintenance.