The Center and the Department of Environmental Science & Policy are offering a unique course in applied watershed science this spring that involves rafting several class IV-V whitewater stretches of the Tuolumne River.

ESP 190 brings together upper-division undergraduates and graduate students from a range of biological and physical sciences and engineering backgrounds to address conservation and management issues in Sierra Nevada watersheds. Students engage in classroom/laboratory training and take weekend trips to Sierra rivers. The course culminates the week after finals with a four-day camping/rafting trip in the Tuolumne watershed to collect data. Students work in cooperative research teams to produce short videos and written reports using the Tuolumne field data to address management issues in the watershed. Issues might include, for example, the effects of regulated flow regimes on aquatic biota or the effectiveness of current conservation strategies in the face of climate change. To learn more: ESP 190