Educational Materials

ACA Materials

Floodplains and Riparian Forests of Alameda Creek

Ecologist Corner #1 - What is A Watershed?

Ecologist Corner #2 - How Steelhead Use Habitat In the Alameda Creek Watershed

Ecologist Corner #3 - Riparian Forests and the Food Web in Alameda Creek

Resources for Teachers and Educators

Save the Bay has a watershed curriculum designed to help Bay Area science and environmental educators easily incorporate experiential, Bay-specific activities into their lessons. The curriculum meets the California Science Framework and State Science Standards for middle and high school levels.

The Watershed Project in Richmond offers service-learning projects on marine debris and clean water for middle and high school students, and curriculum development related to marine debris and clean water

Central Coast Women for Fisheries has created a DVD powerpoint presentation "Save Our Wild Salmon" which meets many of the third through fifth-grade science standards set by the California Department of Education. The presentation describes the varieties of native Pacific salmon, the differences between wild and farmed salmon, what wild salmon need in order to survive and what we can do to ensure healthy viable salmon runs. It also introduces water diversion and allocation issues to the non-scientist, using wild California salmon to demonstrate how water usage directly affects fish populations, along with some handy notes to assist presenters. You can download the presentation and materials, and request a free copy of the DVD here.

The California Coastal Commission publishes Waves, Wetlands, and Watersheds, a classroom and community activity guide for teachers that addresses issues such as endangered species, marine debris, coastal geology, water use, and much more. It is carefully aligned to the California State Science Standards for grades 3 through 8, and includes "community action" lessons adaptable for all ages up to and beyond 12th grade. The guide is available to California educators for free, or it can be downloaded as a PDF. Additional educational resources are available from the Coastal Commission, including a video lending library.

What is your water footprint? Find out with this Water Footprint Calculator by National Geographic.

How You Can Help Creeks

Friends of Five Creeks Five Things You Can Do for Creeks
Marin County Creek Care Tips for your vehicle, home and yard
Alameda County Stopwaste information on Bay-friendly gardening and recycling
Clean Angling Pledge for fishermen to prevent the spread of invasive species
Friends of Five Creeks Native Creekside Plants for the East Bay
Friends of Five Creeks Invasive Plants Along East Bay Creeks
Berkey Filters has a comprehensive Guide to Water Conservation

Information for Land Owners

Resources for protecting and restoring creeks, stabilizing streambanks, gardening with native plants, and improving wildlife habitat on your property

Trout in the Classroom

The Alameda Creek Alliance sponsors a Trout In the Classroom program to provide a unique learning experience for students attending schools within the Alameda Creek watershed. Students are given the opportunity to witness rainbow trout hatching right before their eyes in a special aquarium located in their very own classroom

Endangered Species in the Alameda Creek Watershed

Information on endangered and threatened species, wildlife species of concern, and rare plants in the Alameda Creek watershed

Salmon Viewing
Map of salmon viewing locations in the Bay Area courtesy of the Bay Institute

Recommended Reading
Fish: An Enthusiast’s Guide by Peter B. Moyle
King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon by David R. Montgomery
Salmon Nation: People and Fish at the Edge by Edward C. Wolf and Seth Zuckerman
Salmon Without Rivers: A History of the Pacific Salmon Crisis by Jim Lichatowich
Totem Salmon: Life Lessons from Another Species by Freeman House
California’ Salmon and Steelhead: The Struggle to Restore an Imperiled Resource by Alan Lufkin
How to Save a River: A Handbook for Citizen Action by David M. Bolling
Watershed: The Undamming of America by Elizabeth Grossman
Dam Removal: A New Option for a New Century by the Aspen Institute
The Great Thirst: Californians and Water by Norris Hundley, Jr.
California Rivers and Streams: The Conflict Between Fluvial Process and Land Use by Jeffrey F. Mount
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner
Natural History of San Francisco Bay by Ariel Rubissow Okamoto and Kathleen M. Wong
Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West by Donald Worster