Northern CA PPSR Projects 1

SONAR - School of Natural Resources

• Organization Name

  Mendocino High School
• Project Website

  http://mendocinohighschool.blogspot.com/2009/01/sonar.html
• Organization Website

  http://mendocinohighschool.blogspot.com/
• Partners

  California Department of Fish & Game; SPAWN
• Contact Name

  Robert Jamgochian
• Contact Email

  rjamgoch@mcn.org
• Contact Phone

  (707) 937-5871
• Other Contact Information

  N / A
• Project Purpose (taken from project materials)

  Conduct surveys to help manage the salmon resource in the Big River watershed and maintain the overall biodiversity of the watershed.

  Other goals include: 

  • Foster student stewardship of natural resources
  • Collaboration among students, teachers, community members and practicing scientists
  • Maintenance of reliable and high quality databases
  • Provide job shadowing and career awareness in Natural Resource management
  • Provide training and equipment for Natural Resource monitoring
• Participant Activities

  Students conduct field studies to observe and estimate adult and juvenile Coho populations by counting adult carcasses and redds on the Little North Fork of the Big River. Students follow salmon survey protocols developed by the DFG.

  The School of Natural Resources (SONAR) is an advanced placement environmental science class based in Mendocino High School with an emphasis on doing field research and restoration work. Field studies gather population data for research, study, and analysis of the changes in the Big River watershed.

• Data Entry

  • Unknown
• Other Participant Activities

  Volunteers can become involved in the Students for Environental Action (SEA) groups, tours of the local ecology, and other SONAR initiatives.

• System Studied

  • Water Quality
  • Wetlands - Freshwater Streams and Marshes
  • Other (see Notes)
• Geographic Scope

  Local
• Region

  Mendocino
• Location

  Big River watershed
• Location - Map

  10700 Ford Street Mendocino, CA 94560
• Time Commitment

  • Weekly
  • Other (see Other Information below)
• Volunteer Qualifications

  Volunteers are primarily high school students, though opportunities exist for teachers and university students.

• Volunteer Training

  Students will be trained to collect and present information in a scientific way about the conditions of local streams and marine habitat. Students also learn how ecosystem managemenet can be an ethic for wise stewardship of resources here on the Mendocino coast and elsewhere, and how SONAR can be a pathway for students' future careers in a field related to natural resource mangaement or in higher educational settings.

• Cost to Participant

  N / A
• How will the findings be used?

  Data are used by the California State Dept of Fish & Game to augment missing information on the Little North Fork of Big River, helping them manage the salmon resource in the Big River watershed.

• Other Information

  N / A
• Photo

  N / A
• last update:

  9/19/12