A ground-breaking study has just been completed in Mariposa County. The community is invited to a presentation of the final results at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 28, at the Mariposa County Government Center.
Mariposa County was chosen from all the counties in the state of California. It is helping to develop and test a new measurement of the condition of watersheds in California. The Statewide Watershed Assessment Framework currently includes scientific indicators for physical attributes like water quality and the condition of plants and animals. This study enters new territory by looking at the people living in a watershed, what they value in their watershed, what concerns they have, and what is needed for them to understand and work together to address watershed issues.

Over several months, community members from Mariposa County’s three watersheds shared their knowledge and perspectives on watershed conditions. Sierra Institute for Community and Environment Consultant Jonathan Kusel will report on the social and economic indicators for Mariposa County’s watersheds that emerged from these discussions. He’ll describe how the indicators were tested in Mariposa County and how they will help to measure watershed conditions here and throughout California as well. He‘ll demonstrate how the information gathered in the study will document what has succeeded and what is still needed to protect Mariposa County’s exceptional natural resources.

The project was funded by the California Department of Water Resources and managed by the Sierra Nevada Alliance.

For those who cannot attend, the report will be posted at www.merced-river.org as soon as it is available.