Bridging Science and Community: Engaging Youth in Delta Conservation through the Spinning Salmon Program

Science activity #54197, updated 11 March 2025

Bridging Science and Community: Engaging Youth in Delta Conservation through the Spinning Salmon Program

Description / purpose

Bridging Science and Community: Engaging Youth in Delta Conservation through the Spinning Salmon Program is designed to enhance scientific understanding and engagement among underrepresented youth in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Leveraging the Youth-Focused Community and Citizen Science (YCCS) framework, the program connects youth to local ecosystems while addressing ecological challenges such as the Thiamine Deficiency Complex affecting Central Valley Chinook Salmon. The objectives focus on enhancing students' understanding of scientific concepts and processes, fostering science identity, self-efficacy, and environmental science agency, and cultivating a sense of environmental stewardship. Additionally, the program emphasizes the active involvement of community members in co-creating and refining educational strategies, ensuring these approaches are tailored to the diverse cultural and educational needs of the Delta community. This aligns with Science Action C under Management Need 4 in the 2022-2026 Science Action Agenda (SAA), contributing to a broader understanding of community-engaged research methodologies.

Linked science activities

None specified

Collaborators

Rebecca VanArnam, Principal investigator - University of California - Davis [UC Davis]

Heidi Ballard, Co-investigator - University of California - Davis [UC Davis]

Dina Flamik, Community Mentor - Maine Prairie High School

Activity status

1 Awarded / Initiating (2025)
2 In progress / Ongoing (2025 - 2027)
3 Complete

Funding summary

Total allocated funding: $171,927

Delta Stewardship Council: $171,927

Label	Value
Contract # or labor code	DSC23011
Implementing organization	University of California - Davis [UC Davis]
Funding organization	Delta Stewardship Council
Funding Source	Delta Stewardship Council - General Fund
Date of award	2025-02-01
Date of fiscal year-end	2025-06-30
Total award amount	$171,927
State type of obligation	Not provided
Federal type of obligation	Not provided
Reimbursability	Not provided
Procurement mechanism	Not provided

Location

Subbasins

Delta regions

Geographic tags

None specified

Products and outputs

None provided

Type and context

Science action area

SAA Need 4 (2022-2026): Build and integrate knowledge on social processes and human behavior to support effective and equitable management , 4A. Use multi-method approaches (e.g., surveys, interviews, oral histories, and/or observations) to develop an understanding of how human communities’ values, and uses of cultural, recreational, agricultural, and natural resources vary across geography, d , 4B. Synthesize existing data and collaboratively develop additional long-term data collection and monitoring strategies to address knowledge gaps on human communities within the Delta and those reliant on the Delta, with the goal of tracking and modeling , 4C. Measure and evaluate the effects of using co-production or community science approaches (in management and planning processes) on communities' perceptions of governance and on institutional outcomes, such as implementation or innovation.

Management themes

Delta as Place , Native species management

Science themes

Fish

Types

Targeted foundational research

Science functions

Research

Management actions

None specified

Science Topics

None specified

Lead implementing organization

University of California - Davis [UC Davis]

Partner implementing organizations

Maine Prairie High School

Funding organizations

Delta Stewardship Council

Funding programs

Delta Science Program and California Sea Grant - Delta Science Fellows Program

Funding sources

Delta Stewardship Council - General Fund