Educating the next generation at Gilardi Ranch

June 26, 2019

Ag + Open Space partners with local organizations to provide innovative programs that get young people outside to explore nature, science, agriculture, and environmental stewardship in their communities. One such program is the TEAM program, which stands for Teaching Environmental and Agricultural Memories.

Led by Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District and Sonoma Resource Conservation District staff and scientists, this unique program allows students to explore the important relationship between agriculture and the environment. Through field trips to Ag + Open Space-protected natural resource lands and working dairies and ranches, students build memories and connections to the cycles of the land, the sources of their food, and to the lives of local farmers, ranchers, and landowners.

During the month of May, Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District teamed up with Envirichment and North Coast Resource Conservation & Development Council to host four TEAM field trips to Gilardi Ranch, just outside of Bodega, CA. Nearly 100 students enjoyed four hours on the ranch, where they learned about Rancher Dennis Gilardi’s improvements to Salmon Creek, a stream that bears steelhead trout and Coho salmon, both threatened species.

The students looked for salmonids in the stream, evaluated their stream habitat, studied riparian plant species, and explored the salmonid life cycle. They also learned that salmon migrate from many creeks in Sonoma County to the Pacific Ocean and return again to spawn in the creeks. Through various games, they learned about the predators and dangers young and adult salmon face along their journey, as well as their instinct to locate their home stream upon their return.

Great weather, great classes, great partnerships and a great landowner made for a fantastic season at Gilardi Ranch!