Skip to main content

UPPER MERCED RIVER WATERSHED COUNCIL

Our river, our land, our future
Home
About Us
Contact Us
Site Map
Stakeholders
Ongoing Projects
Coming Events
How Can I Help?
River Reach Newsletter
Maps
Watershed Calendar
Archives
Water Quality Data
WQM Quick Start
PAST NEWS ITEMS 
 
 

Great Sierra River Clean Up 2012

Thanks to local volunteers and a group of students from UC Merced, the clean up on Saturday, September 15, was a success. A total of 1,237 pounds of debris and trash was removed along the Upper Merced River and Bear Creek. Here volunteers unload a vehicle frame from years ago. Mattress springs, several feet of pipe, and bags of aluminum cans, 

and bottles were also collected. Of the 1,237 pounds, 95% is recyclable!

 

As of 2 pm on Saturday, the total for the clean up over the entire Sierra Nevada area by 2,800 volunteers is 90,000 pounds. Another clean up opportunity: Friends of Bear Creek at Midpines Park Clean Up is scheduled for October 13.   

 
 
 
 

RUSSIAN ENVIRONMENTALISTS VISIT WATERSHED

 

Pacific Environment, a nonprofit organization that supports grass roots environmental groups in the Pacific Rim, recently brought several Russian environmental leaders to the Mother Lode Country. The five women spent a day with the Upper Merced River Watershed Council, learning about our organization and our volunteer program. A major concern for these leaders is water pollution from gold mining in Russia.

 

The group and the watershed staff spent the morning at the California State Mining and Mineral Museum. Following careful questioning through Russian/English interpeters, expert Randy Bolt provided valuable insight on solutions to mining concerns in California and how they might apply in Russia. After an informed stroll through the model landscape demonstration project, an exchange of information, friendship, and possibilities took place at the watershed office.

 

  

Learn more about Pacific Environment and the work being done in Russia, China, and other areas of the Pacific Rim.

 

 

 
 
 
 
2008
 

RIVER-WIDE BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT COMPLETED

The two-year river-wide biological survey has been completed by Stillwater Sciences of Berkeley, California, as part of a Merced River Alliance Project. The data provided by this study will establish an initial baseline for future restoration and management actions. Read Stillwater's 2008 Final Report.

 

 
WATER BUGS ARE ALIVE AND WELL! RESULTS ARE IN FROM 2007 MONITORING
 
In October, 2007, under a grant from the Sierra Nevada Alliance, specially trained volunteer monitors collected nearly 2,000 benthic macroinvertebrates (BMI) from four sites in the watershed. Our river is alive and well, according to the results received last summer following months of tedious laboratory analysis of those samples.
 
Different organisms tolerate different temperatures, oxygen levels, and other conditions, so the species identified in a section of river or stream can provide an assessment of water quality. The presence of three groups of BMI in particular, stoneflies, mayflies, and caddisflies, tell us that the Upper Merced River water is healthy!
 
Results from the 2008 monitoring of the same sites confirmed another year of the same good news and establish a solid baseline of data.
 
MERCED RIVER CENTER AT BRICEBURG

 

Terry McLaughlin, Education Coordinator for the Upper Merced River Watershed Council, is directing the project that creates the Merced River Center at Briceburg. Here Comes Mabon Construction has upgraded and opened the space for more efficient use in showcasing the Merced River Canyon.
 
The new design accommodates training for watershed volunteers as well as the Council's outstanding informational presentations. Community groups. The Bureau of Land Management's historic Briceburg Visitor Center, which has also served over the years as a restaurant, gas station, and store, has been renovated through a grant from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.ps are invited and encouraged to use the space as well. Mariposa County High School art students created a mural at the center showing an underwater river view.
 
In 2009, National Park Service rangers joined the Bureau of Land Management in staffing the center to provide extended hours of summer operation.  
 
Improved signage and stellar interpretive displays are planned with the goal of bringing more local residents and visitors to a better understanding of the human and natural history of the watershed.
Watch for updates!