Combine a muddy field and high school students in yellow rain slickers and you’ve got the perfect image of hands-on education. Students from Davis High School traveled to the Yolo County town of Winters this week to help six miles of Dry Creek become a wildlife habitat.
The student group, part of the Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship (SLEWS), worked in coordination with Audubon California on the project to help rehabilitate and revitalize six miles of Dry Creek so that it becomes a wildlife corridor. The work is helping restore an ecological connection between Dry Creek tributaries and the main channel of Putah Creek. Besides planting trees and shrubs and installing irrigation systems, the students built and installed bird boxes to attract western bluebirds and tree swallows. They also added boxes for burrowing owls.
In writing about the day’s activities, the Davis Enterprise noted that the effort has the support of area ranchers and farmers. The work this week took place at Marubayashi Ranch near Winters. The day included a presentation of $40,000 from the Nature Restoration Trust Program, a collaboration between PG&E and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.