FIELD TRIPS

PRE-MEETING FIELD TRIPS
Friday, May 20, 2016
Californians love adventure, learning new things and eating good food. You are planning to attend the SFS 2016 meeting in California so why not come a day early on Friday, the 20th and enjoy the California way of life. We have a line-up of field trips like white water rafting for the most adventurous to a day learning about the ecology and hydrology of the San Francisco Bay Estuary. Some trips will end with an opportunity to wine and dine in a coastal or historic foothill town before heading back to Sacramento.
Space is limited-register early. Five pre-meeting field trips from which to choose.
Field trips are subject to cancellation if minimum registration is not met.
No refunds or cancellations after April 15.Busses depart from the Sheraton.

http://raftcalifornia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/raft-cali-home.jpg White Water Rafting on the South Fork American River
A1-WHITE WATER RAFTING ON THE SOUTH FORK AMERICAN RIVER-
9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.-lunch included
Minimum 30; Maximum: 45
A1: Price: $145

The South Fork American River lies in the golden hillsides of the Sierra Nevada foothills, just forty miles east of Sacramento. The rafting trip with professional guides starts at the tiny hamlet of Coloma--the town where gold was first discovered in California in 1848. We chose the South Fork for your trip because it offers all the qualities that make river rafting incredibly fun: lively, approachable rapids, splashing waves, and classic California scenery. Though the rapids have overwhelming names like "Troublemaker" and "Satan's Cesspool," they are not too intimidating themselves. Exciting enough to get your heart pumping, they are still reasonable enough for kids as young as eight years old to enjoy.
The bus will pick you up at 9 am and you will be on the water from 11:00 to 4:30. For lunch, you'll enjoy a tantalizing deli spread where you assemble your sandwich from a multitude of fresh vegetables, meats and condiments. You'll snack on chips, salsa, sweet summer fruit, and finish with a tasty dessert. The rafting trip will end at Folsom Lake where the bus will pick you up for the short ride back to the convention center.



POST-MEETING FIELD TRIPS

Thursday, May 26, 2016
You are planning to attend the SFS 2016 meeting in California so why not stay later on Thursday the 26th and take in a field trip to the Lake Tahoe area. Choose from a one day or a two day trip.
Space is limited-register early. Two post-meeting field trips from which to choose. Field trips are subject to cancellation if minimum registration is not met.
No refunds or cancellations after April 15.Busses depart from the Sheraton.

 

Drought, Fire, Flood and Restoration in Mountain Streams of the Sierra Nevada
B1: DROUGHT, FIRE, FLOOD AND RESTORATION IN MOUNTAIN STREAMS OF THE SIERRA NEVADA
7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. - lunch not included
Minimum: 10; Maximum: 18
B1: Price: $120

The climatic extremes of the golden State are becoming even more pronounced as high temperatures, drought, forest wildfires, and floods have altered the hydrologic environment, especially of mountain streams in the Sierra Nevada. Take a trip with us to some of the stream sites where we’ve been studying these effects, and whether restoration practices can serve to protect or build resilience of these iconic environments. We’ll leave from Sacramento Thursday morning at 7:30 am, head east into the mountains on interstate 80, first going to Sagehen Creek to visit a site where studies of climate change and drought have gone on for the past 6 years, then down along the Truckee River to visit a large river system and impacts from sedimentation, then onto Lake Tahoe and along the beautiful west shore of this great mountain lake (lunch). At the south shore of the lake we’ll visit Angora Creek where a fire decimated habitat in 2007 and is now recovering. We will also visit Trout Creek and the Upper Truckee River where meadow restoration projects are hoped to stem effects of climate change and recover hydrologic function. Returning back to Sacramento along highway 50 and the corridor of the south fork of the American River (some stops there). If this winter brings El Nino atmospheric river storms we may see some flooding effects as well. Herbst and Medhurst have studied and published on Sierra streams for many years.


Aquatic Invertebrate Field Collection Trip
B2: AQUATIC INVERTEBRATE FIELD COLLECTION TRIP-
Thursday May 26 7:30 a.m. to Friday May 27 6:00 p.m.
Thursday night lodging, dinner, Friday breakfast and sack lunch included.
Minimum: 10; Maximum 15
B2: Price: $249

Have you ever gotten to the couplet in your favorite taxonomic key where it says “Found only in Western North America,” and you have always wanted to see what that critter looks like? Well, here is your chance! Join California Taxonomists for an old fashioned, taxonomic field collection trip up into the Sierra-Nevada Mountains of California. A bus will pick us up in the morning of Thursday, May 26th, heading up to Sagehen Creek Field Station. We will collect at two stream sites, and one lake site high in the mountains before finally arriving at Sagehen.

Located within the Sagehen Experimental Forest on the eastern slope of the northern Sierra Nevada approximately 20 miles north of Lake Tahoe, Sagehen Creek Field Station has been dedicated to research and teaching since 1951. The University of California operates the station under a long-term, special-use permit from the U.S. Forest Service. The surrounding watershed is also available to researchers and classes through an agreement with the Forest Service and includes extensive stands of yellow pine, mixed conifer, and red fir forests, as well as brush fields, scattered mountain meadows, and fens. There are rustic cabins at the Field Station, so pillow, sleeping bag, outdoor equipment, and toiletries are required!
We will stay the night here at Sagehen, getting to collect both during the day, and to run a mercury vapor night light for aquatic adults. Microscopes will be available in the afternoon and evening for those who want to figure out what critters they got. Dinner, breakfast, and a sack lunch for Friday will be offered at Sagehen. We will collect a couple of other sites on Friday on the way back down to Sacramento.