We have a number of excellent workday projects for our volunteers this 2009 season!  Please sign up and join our staff as we partner with the Forest Service to rehabilitate damaged areas of our local Stanislaus Forest.  The projects are:   May 30th:  Near Cherry Lake, we'll be doing a challenging fence-building project to keep livestock out of a damaged meadow.  Similar past CSERC meadow restoration projects have resulted in greatly increased protection for critical meadow habitat for wildlife and plant species.  This will be hard work with immediate benefits.  We need at least 20 volunteers!

  Summer 2009:  CSERC is launching a major new summer project we're calling the “Finding the Bad Roads and Routes" project.  CSERC will train you and other volunteers to spend any available time driving some selected areas of the Forest to identify the roads that are causing significant environmental impacts to soil and water resources.  This project is perfect if you want to take on a more independent-type project that works within your own schedule whenever you find time during the summer.  (When you drive up to your favorite meadow or trailhead, you can check in with CSERC first to find which side roads need be inventoried while you are driving to or from your destination.)  CSERC is seeking at least 10 - 15 eager volunteers to do this survey work.

  September 12th:  In the high country of the Calaveras District, we have a restoration workday planned at Segales Meadow.  We'll be working to remove thickets of young conifers that are encroaching on the meadow.

  October 10th:  This high country restoration project will also be in the Calaveras District up at Hay Gulch Meadow.   The project will also help protect a damaged fen that provides habitat potential for rare plants.

  November 7th:  Once fall rains have soaked the soil, we'll do a willow-planting project in a riparian area off of Evergreen Road, not far from the border of Yosemite Park.  Willows help to hold the soil and provide important habitat for many birds and mammals.  Two previous willow-planting projects were highly productive and also a lot of fun.

  Participating in volunteer projects is a great way to help make a difference for the forest environment.  In addition, you can meet like-minded folks who share similar conservation ethics.

  To find out more or to sign up for the May 30th project, please e-mail Julia at julias@cserc.org or call Julia or Lindsey at (209) 586-7440.