The Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center makes a huge difference for the Northern Yosemite region of the Sierra Nevada by using creative strategies and innovative education efforts to defend local forests, rivers, wildlife, and wild places.
CSERC's staff scientists do fieldwork, monitoring, and wildlife surveys to respond to every environmental threat across 2 million acres of the local area. Just with its educational programs alone, CSERC reaches more than 5,000 students each year, plus it responds to every proposed development project and timber harvest plan across the vast region.
Working with the media, meeting with decision-makers, and doing hands-on restoration projects, CSERC is on the front lines of advocacy for the spectacular region north and west of Yosemite Park.
Here in the central Sierra Nevada, we get most of our annual precipitation in the late fall through the early spring. With cool but seldom freezing temperatures in the foothills, this time of year the weather is right for mushrooms to grow. There is a diversity to be found, and the unique shapes and colors different species take on are always worth a closer look.
But what are mushrooms exactly? Are they the same thing as fungi? Are they a plant or are they an animal? How do they survive, and how do they fit into our local food chain? Let’s take a look! Read on »
You know you love ‘em. How could you not? Whatever the inconveniences they may cause you (or the longings they bring out in you for a warm sunny beach in Fiji), when examined up close the snowflake evokes in all of us a sense of awe and wonder of the intricacies of nature’s design. Read on »
Photo by George O. Goodman
Not so for our local wildlife who depend on millions of years of evolution to endure the cold and scarce months of winter. How they’ve adapted varies greatly from species to species, but all methods reveal their resilience and how they can continue to make our beloved Sierra Nevada their home. Here are a few great examples of some local wildlife species winter survival techniques for your reading enjoyment!
Read on »
Its happening again. As soon as the cool weather kicks in, that instinctive hibernation overcomes us and we no longer have the same urge to get out enjoy nature like we were in the summer. Understandable, but at the same time, there is much we can do to get out and enjoy nature this time of year…and here’s a reminder of a few of those things!
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Volunteers work together to build a fence around the fen at Sapps Meadow this past October 2nd.
Sierra Nevada red fox. Photo from the CA Department of Fish and Game.
It is hard to imagine, but there has not been a confirmed presence of the Sierra Nevada red fox (Vulpes vulpes necator) south of Lassen Volcanic National Park in over 15 years, with none being seen in the central Sierra Nevada region since the 1920′s.
That all changed last week when scientists confirmed (through DNA sampling of a collected saliva sample) that a fox photographed at a Forest Service remote wildlife camera station up near Sonora Pass, was indeed the Sierra Nevada red fox!
What does this mean for the future of the Sierra Nevada red fox? Read on »
This past weekend my co-worker Lindsey and I ventured out of Leavitt Lake (just east of Sonora Pass) down into Kennedy Canyon for a three-day backpack trip into the new western addition of the Hoover Wilderness and the Emigrant Wilderness. During this adventure we were treated to expansive alpine views of granitic and volcanic mountains, as well as an amazing abundance and diversity of wildflowers in bloom. Read on »
This summer CSERC staff is especially busy with field work and much of their work time is spent in the beautiful surrounding mountains, as they conduct research and monitor resources.
Below is a gallery of photos taken by staff members this year as they work and play in this amazing region – we hope you enjoy them and are inspired to get out there on your own! Read on »
There is something truly special about seeing a woodpecker when you are out in the woods. Whenever I encounter one I can’t help but announce their presence to whoever happens to be listening, and I stop what I am doing to enjoy watching them for however long I can.
Actually, there are many different species of woodpeckers found in our region, with twelve species listed on the Central Sierra Audubon’s “Birds of Tuolumne County” page!
This blog describes some of the distinctive and interesting traits of a few of the well-known species of woodpeckers that you might run into in the woods. Here they are, in no particular order: Read on »
