Citizen Science Program

Volunteers counting fish and testing water on Auburn Ravine since 2016.

Counting fish, every week

The SARSAS Citizen Science Program conducts surveys along Auburn Ravine every year between October 15 and April 15, the window when salmon and steelhead can migrate upstream to spawn. Each week, volunteers go to designated areas to count salmon and steelhead. They record their observations on iNaturalist along with water and air temperature, water clarity or turbidity, and other data.

Testing water, every month

Using sophisticated equipment, a dedicated group of Auburn Ravine stewards tests regularly up and down the ravine from Lincoln to Auburn at nine specific sample sites. They record temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen (in ppm and in percent saturation), and turbidity every month of the year, come rain or shine.

Results are detailed in a series of annual reports, which have consistently shown good water quality throughout the area tested, verifying the ability of Auburn Ravine to support a thriving fish and aquatic species environment. The 2025 report is nearly complete and will join the earlier reports online. This data is critical to SARSAS’s case for restoring an historic salmonid fishery.

See observations over time

Our team

The Citizen Science Team began in 2016 and was first coordinated by Roxanne Cariadi-Kimler, who retired in 2022. Jim Pauley retired as a volunteer after nine years of field work.

Heather Watkins-Koolhof, Gary Koolhof and Kyoji Miyazaki have been with the program since the beginning, ten years of volunteer service each and still going. Glen Del Sarto, who joined the program in 2000, became program coordinator in 2022, and was joined by Don Draga in 2021.

Two volunteers collecting a water sample from a riffle — Collecting water samples

A volunteer checking a water-quality meter beside a fallen log — Taking readings in the field

Three volunteers under a bridge with a sampling bucket — Sampling team under the bridge

A volunteer recording notes beside the creek — Recording observations

A volunteer lowering a clarity disk into the water — Measuring water clarity

Volunteers wading in Auburn Ravine — Out on the ravine

Learn more about citizen science at the California Academy of Sciences.