The 2018 Truckee River Source to Sea Educational Paddling Adventure was the second year of a unique adventure-based watershed education program. Over the 2017/2018 school year, the 2017 Student Ambassador team gave presentations to their peers at their respective schools, sharing their experience and knowledge gained from exploring the Truckee River watershed the previous summer. A total of 1,100 students were reached at 7 middle schools throughout the watershed (South Tahoe Middle School, North Tahoe Middle School, Creekside Charter School, Forest Charter School, Sierra Expeditionary Learning School, Alder Creek Middle School, and Archie Clayton Middle School).
During the spring of 2018, Rivers For Change led three on-shore learning events with the South Tahoe Middle School, Sierra Expeditionary Learning School, and North Tahoe Middle School. Approximately 115 students participated in those learning events, which included hands-on learning exercises and presentations related to water based recreation safety, stream channel restoration, water supply allocations, water use management and water quality.
The 2018 Truckee River StS project then culminated in a 6-day exploration of the Truckee river watershed with a 14-member Student Ambassador team, representing 6 different middle schools. Four members of this year’s team were returnees from last year and performed as mentors to the ten new student ambassadors.