Putah Creek Council

Putah Creek, a tributary to the Sacramento River, is an oasis of native habitat in a largely agricultural landscape. Since 1988, Putah Creek Council has worked to care for and restore Putah Creek and the wild spaces that border it, and to help local residents gain a sense of connection to the creek. We do this through education and stewardship programs, such as our OneCreek program that provides field-based training in ecological restoration to college-age and older participants, and our weekly stewardship workdays, which give people a chance to get their hands dirty helping to care for the creek. We also operate a native plant nursery, Putah Creek Natives, which gives volunteer workers an opportunity to learn about and appreciate local native plants, while producing planting stock used in our restoration and stewardship efforts. 

PCC's program offerings emphasize hands-on engagement with the creek and its associated streamside habitats, as well as with native plants in our nursery. We find that hands-on experience is the most direct and powerful way to promote a sense of caring and concern for the creek, and by extension for nature in general.

PCC's programs are an integral element of the ongoing restoration of Putah Creek. Because the University of California Davis lies right on the creek, Putah Creek is one of the best-studied stream systems of its size in the world. Increased abundance and diversity of native bird populations, gains in native riparian vegetation cover, and the return of chinook salmon to the creek demonstrate the success of restoration efforts over the past few decades.

Our programs also help inspire a love for nature in children and in the people who work with us, either as volunteers or as interns. While we have not found a way to quantify this, the outcome is evident in the faces of the kids who attend our programs. Likewise in our post-project surveys, volunteers speak of the sense of satisfaction that they gained from the work, and comment on the beauty of the surroundings during the events. Asked if they would participate in another PCC event, 100% of survey respondents so far have answered yes.