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A panoramic view of Lodi Lake. (Photo by Kathy Grant/LodiWatershed.com)

Do you know where your drinking water comes from? Or how a watershed works? Do you know where the rain that falls in Lodi goes? What plants and animals depend on the Mokelumne River, from its source in the Sierra to where it flows into the Delta?

Welcome to the City of Lodi Watershed Program website. Here you will find a growing collection of programs, activities and information for local students, teachers and the community, with a focus on the Mokelumne River watershed.

NEW: Join the City of Lodi's Litterati challenge!

Find out about:

Community Programs: From trash cleanup events to watershed friendly landscaping, the City of Lodi hosts a number of programs that allow local residents to get involved in keeping the Mokelumne River watershed healthy.

Educational Resources: Teachers and parents can find a suggested academic calendar, links to curriculum resources and videos, and other ways to incorporate environmental education into lesson plans.

Mokelumne Current: Each year, students in the Lodi Unified School District put together a newspaper sharing everything they've learned about the local watershed.

Storm Drain Detectives: The collaboration between the City of Lodi and Lodi Unified allows students to gain hands-on experience monitoring Lodi's water quality and sharing the data they gather.

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Do you know where your drinking water comes from? Or how a watershed works? Do you know where the rain that falls in Lodi goes? What plants and animals depend on the Mokelumne River, from its source in the Sierra to where it flows into the Delta?

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A Monthly Guide to Teaching the Mokelumne River Watershed

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A Monthly Guide to Teaching the Mokelumne River Watershed

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Year round ideas for teaching stewardship through watershed focused curriculum.

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September-October

Theme: What is a Watershed? Read "What is a Watershed?" section in Circles & Cycles.
Topics and Activities Involving Salmon

Role of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Fish and Wildlife, water cycle, watershed definition and concepts (surface, water, groundwater, where water flows, delineating watersheds, stream order, how water connects people, wildlife and mountains to the sea)

SITE VISIT #1 or speaker to classroom or video on watershed. Salmon spawning usually begins mid-late October after pulse flows from Mokelumne to signal salmon downstream.

Topics and Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill cranes as a fall/winter visitor to CA Delta. What is migration? Two species of Sandhill cranes, greater and lesser. Which lives closer to Lodi? How can we go see them? Where do they live?

Role of CAFW to "flood up" fields for cranes to overwinter in as night roost, forage fields by day.

Artist in the classroom: Sandhill Crane Art for November art show sponsored by Lodi Sandhill Crane Association

SITE VISIT # 1: Go see the birds! Greater and lesser Sandhill cranes usually begin returning to the Isenberg Crane Preserve on Woodbridge Road in mid-September. Lessers stop over and refuel, heading further south for winter. Greaters will stay in area until February.

Other Topics Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed
November

Theme: What else is in a watershed?
Topics and Activities Involving Salmon

Introduction to hatcheries; living things depend on water; watery habitats (uplands, wetlands, lakes, rivers, estuaries, oceans, riparian zones); river forms (geomorphology, parts of a river, instream habitats)

SITE VISIT #2: Students visit a salmon hatchery or other location for spawning demonstration.

Topics and Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes
December

Theme: Aquatic ecosystems
Topics

Energy sources; food chains and webs; predator-prey relationships; biodiversity and stability; survival strategies; examples of aquatic organisms
Activities Involving Salmon

Who eats salmon?

Spawning process.

Dams and mitigation.

Set up salmon fish tank with chilled water before break.

Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

Be thinking of student stories for Mokelumne Current, including energy sources, food chains, predator-prey, etc.

Talk to school janitor regarding disinfectants used in room.

January

Theme: Pacific salmon natural history; Incubation of a "salmon family."
Topics and Activities Involving Salmon Topics and Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill crane characteristics: Physical, behavioral, natural history.
Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

San Joaquin County Historical Museum tours available for SJC ag.

February

Theme: Rivers: For people too.
Topics Activities Involving Salmon

Anglers pay a tax with their license that helps support the oceans fisheries.
Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes

What happened to the wetland habitat that Sandhill cranes depend on? Why do people have to "flood up" for the birds?
Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

San Joaquin County Historical Museum tours available for SJC ag.

March

Theme: Human threats and impacts on a watershed.
Topics Activities Involving Salmon

FRY STOCKING FIELD TRIP: Student visit local stream to release their salmon family.
Activities Involving Sandhill Cranes

Greater Sandhill Cranes return to Northern California; Lessers return to Alaska. How long is their journey?
Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

Study trips to Cal-Waste or Waste Management: Trash in waterways issue.

April

Theme: Water quality monitoring.
Topics

Finding out about water by looking at physical characteristics (temp, depth, width, flow, turbidity); chemical characteristics (DO, pH); bio-indicators of water quality (macro invertebrates, mussels, salmon).
Activities Involving Salmon

Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery releases salmon to Delta and Pacific Ocean at several spots. 2020 salmon release was approximately 6 million fish from Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery!
Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

Student work for the Mokelumne Current newspaper is due the last week of April.

May

Theme: Taking action.
Topics Activities Involving Salmon

SITE VISIT #3: Sport fishing demonstration.
Other Activities Involving the Mokelumne River Watershed

Mokelumne Current newspaper goes to print mid-May.

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Theme: What is a Watershed? Read "What is a Watershed?" section in Circles & Cycles. Topics and Activities Involving Salmon Role of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Fish and Wildlife, water cycle, watershed definition and concepts (surface, water, groundwater, where water flows, delineating watersheds, stream order, how water connects people, wildlife and mountains to the sea) SITE VISIT #1 or speaker to classroom or video on watershed.

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Meet Your Watershed - Videos to learn by

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Meet Your Watershed - Videos to learn by

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Teach the watershed throughout the school year, and then have your students tell the public what they learned about the Mokelumne River Watershed.  

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Teach the watershed throughout the school year, and then have your students tell the public what they learned about the Mokelumne River Watershed.  

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Lodi Students Monitor the Mokelumne River- Storm Drain Detectives

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Lodi Students Monitor the Mokelumne River- Storm Drain Detectives

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Storm Drain Detectives Citizen Monitoring Program

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Keep our Mokelumne River clean!

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The City of Lodi has issued a challenge to local residents: Pick up 2,020 pieces of trash by Dec. 31, 2020. As of Wednesday morning, the team had picked up and tagged 268 pieces of trash so far.

Picking up trash is as easy as taking a grabber or gloves and a bucket along on a short walk. Chloe Mei and Ella Lin Espinosa, the sisters behind SkipthePlasticStraw.com, made a video showing how they were able to pick up nearly 40 pieces of trash in just five minutes.

There's still time to join in; the city's challenge code is LODI2020. For detailed instructions on how to download and sign up via the app, visit Littterati Challenge: Lodi Clean 2020.

Planning to turn the Litterati challenge into a classroom effort, or get the whole family involved? Litterati has a page of lesson plans, ranging from one-day activities to a full year of curriculum, at Litterati EDU.

The City of Lodi will use the data collected via the Litterati app as part of its stormwater program. View a PDF file of the city's stormwater permit.

And if you want to learn more about the inspiration behind the app, pop over to TED.com, where app creator Jeff Kirschner shares what inspired him to crowdsource cleaning up the planet. The TED Talk includes transcripts in several languages and a list of additional resources from books for all ages to podcasts and films.

Posted in Citizen Scientists, Litterati

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The City of Lodi has issued a challenge to local residents: Pick up 2,020 pieces of trash by Dec. 31, 2020. As of Wednesday morning, the team had picked up and tagged 268 pieces of trash so far. Picking up trash is as easy as taking a grabber or gloves and a bucket along on a short walk.

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Lodi's Lawn and Gardening Watering Guide

Clean Green Yard Machines - Lawn mower replacement program

For complete program guidelines, the list of eligible mower manufacturers and authorized dismantlers, please visit www.valleyair.org/lawnmowers or call the District's grants program at 559-230-5800.

Mokelumne River Friendly Landscaping is...

an environmentally friendly way of gardening. River-Friendly Landscaping practices are designed to conserve water, reduce yard waste, and prevent pollution of our air and local rivers.

Benefits

Saves money by reducing water, fertilizer, and pesticide use

Requires less maintenance such as mowing and trimming

Reduces yard waste

Attracts wonderful birds and butterflies to your garden

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Lodi's Lawn and Gardening Watering Guide Clean Green Yard Machines - Lawn mower replacement program For complete program guidelines, the list of eligible mower manufacturers and authorized dismantlers, please visit www.valleyair.org/lawnmowers or call the District's grants program at 559-230-5800. an environmentally friendly way of gardening.