AmeriCorps Update Summer 2025
Eastwood Nature Days: Engaging Students with Hands-On Learning
For the second year in a row, Umpqua Watersheds hosted the long-running Eastwood Nature Days, a week-long celebration of nature science in the watershed attended by all Roseburg 3rd-grade public school students. Since taking on this fun and inspirational week, we’ve made a serious effort to expand the participation beyond the Roseburg public schools. This expansion reflects our core goal this year: to reach kids where they are, regardless of the educational path their parents have chosen. This means providing programming for kids in homeschools, private schools, charter schools, faith-based schools, tribal schools, and after-school programs, serving children from Pre-K and Headstart through high school. Canyonville joined us this year, and Sutherlin, Camas Valley, and several homeschools have also requested to join next year.
This year’s event was an incredible success, with more than 450 kids and adults attending sessions such as biochar/prescribed burning, salmon chemoreception, Takelma language and culture, pioneering days, lamprey, poison and venom, animal adaptations, hydrology, beaver, bird tracking, trees as habitat, “Technology on the Trail” and “Reading Nature’s Clues.”
This annual event has become a cornerstone of our education program, a central experience from which many of our other offerings branch out and build upon throughout the year. It sets the tone, inspires new ideas, and continues to shape the way we engage with students and educators across all our initiatives. It also serves as a powerful collaborative platform. It brings together organizations, educators, and agencies from across the region, offering them a space to engage with youth, share their expertise, showcase their projects, and highlight the passions that drive their work.
This year, the event was supported by a grant from the Cow Creek Foundation, for which we are incredibly grateful. Lamprey teeth were provided by the Yakima Nation Fisheries, which, along with temporary tattoos of the lamprey bite, were quirky keepsakes for students that made the lamprey presentation something tangible and unforgettable. Teachers from agencies, organizations, and schools donated their time bringing lessons to the kids. Each day, the 40-acre campus echoed with laughter, with some squealing at the live animal demonstrations and the unmistakable hum of enthusiasm!
Upcoming Events and Education Programs
Our summer program is looking fantastic, with the Twin Lakes Youth Campout coming up the third weekend of June, the 30th Anniversary Membership Banquet on June 29th, River Appreciation Day on July 19th, the UNLSH summer campout July 8-10th, library sessions in Canyonville and Winston, and several pre-K program visits with Cow Creek in Myrtle Creek.
Despite the dissolution of the AmeriCorps program, whose members Umpqua Watersheds has depended on our education program for years, I will continue in my role through my service term. After that, I’ll continue working closely with our Education and Outreach Committees, so that our education and outreach efforts remain uninterrupted and are strengthened. We are expanding our efforts and finding innovative ways to reach students where they are because we know that education is the seed from which stewardship grows. Even as federal support disappears, our resolve deepens. Our home, our ecosystem, and our youth are worth it.