news & information center
 

Upcoming March Events

March 18th: 3rd Thursday Community Dinner and Dance Performance on March 18th at 6pm.  The West African Community Dance Program will be the guest chefs for this event, preparing Senegalese food and performing afterwards at 7:45pm.

March 26th: Enchilada Dinner and "Dream Result" Showing! This is a benefit event for the Orleans 8th Graders to be held in the community space at the Panamnik Building. Dinner will begin at 5 pm and "Dream Result" will be shown at 7 pm followed by a live hip-hop performance by Adrenaline Rush from 8:30-10 pm.

"The Glory of Love:" A Musical Success Story

On Saturday, March 13th, a concert benefit was held at the Panamnik Building to raise funds for its purchase. The event was a harmonious success that had performers begging of their audience, "is you is or is you ain't my baby?", and promised that this performance was "just for you." The crowd of about 100 replied in over $2,200 in donations! MKWC would like to thank the support of its community and the generous contributions of the band which included our local archivist, Adrienne Reed Storey Harling.

MKWC in Escrow

MKWC is very excited to announce the purchase of the Panamnik Building. We are currently in escrow and are expected to close at the end of June. We would like to express many thanks to the community for their overwhelming support for this project.

Through grants, fundraisers, and donations, over $110,000 was raised by the community. Another $20,000 was raised by the Somes Bar Arts Council for the development of an outdoor amphitheatre and riverfront park.

The Panamnik Building in downtown Orleans, CA, has been many things to the community over the years: a grocery story, a furniture retail outlet, a post office, and most recently, office space for the Mid Klamath Watershed Council and other local businesses, as well as a community space for local events and activities. Now we have the exciting opportunity to begin the remodeling of the building and develop the beautiful riverfront property it sits on. To find out more about this important community project and the next steps in the development of this community space or to donate, go to our Panamnik Building Project page.

MKWC Welcomes Two New AmeriCorps Members

MKWC is happy to announce the arrival of this year's new Watershed Stewards Project (WSP) AmeriCorps members, Brandon and Susan. This is our fourth year as a placement site for the WSP program and we our thrilled to have two new workers ready to help in the restoration of the Mid Klamath basin. They have already started teaching the students at Orleans and Weitchpec Elementary schools and have jumped at the opportunity to get dirty and scraped up pulling invasive weeds with our Weeds Crew.

Brandon hails from Tallahassee, Florida and Susan comes to us from upstate New York and they are both excited to be with us for the next 10 months.  Join us in welcoming our AmeriCorps and sharing your knowledge and love of this area with them.

MKWC Reconfigures Mouth of Thompson Creek to Improve Rearing Habitat and Passage for Salmon

This September, MKWC completed our first mechanical restoration of a Klamath tributary mouth. Thompson Creek, located about nine miles up the Klamath River from Happy Camp, is a high quality salmon stream that supports spawning runs of Chinook and Coho salmon, steelhead, and lamprey. Through funding from the Bella Vista Foundation, and with support from the USFS, Karuk Tribe and DFG, MKWC conducted necessary surveys and completed required permitting to allow for mechanical modification of the site. We used the skills of local excavator operator Angie Algier to restore an alternate mouth to Thompson Creek that was disconnected initially in the 1964 Flood. About 30% of the flow was concentrated into this new channel. Monitoring to quantify the benefits of this project will be occurring through the winter and next year. 

Monthly Organic Coffee Orders

Get your caffeine fix and support the Panamnik Building Project at the same time! Each month MKWC will be putting in an order with Cafe Mam for delicious organic, fair-trade, shade-grown coffee from indigenous co-ops.  There are many varieties of coffee to choose from.  For prices and more info contact MKWC at 530 627 3202. 

Community Watershed and Information Center at Panamnik Building in Orleans!

The Community Watershed & Information Center in downtown Orleans, California is open Monday through Thursday from 10am-4pm or by appointment.  The center is home to MKWC's offices, the Orleans Somes Bar Fire Safe Council, the Klamath-Salmon Natural History Library, Klamath Riverkeeper, and a Community Space.  It also features displays about the Mid Klamath area, MKWC's projects, maps, photos, and paintings by local artists Alan Crockett, Sarah Hugdahl, Amanita Mollier, Judy Lambert and Chris Adams.

Click here to learn more about our Watershed Center.

Community Center Seeking Art Exhibits

The Community Watershed & Information Center is always open to creative ideas on how to use the space.  We would love to have regular, rotating art exhibits hanging in the community center.   Please contact MKWC at 530.627.3202 if you want to contribute to this exhibit, or if you have another art exhibit proposal.

Information

Resources for Private Landowners

The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program  provides riparian restoration grants through their Program Producer Grant Program. Get more info at www.sare.org

The California Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) Program enables the Natural Resources Conservation Service to work with other public and private entities to accelerate technology transfer and adoption of promising technologies and approaches to address pressing natural resource concerns. CIG will benefit agricultural producers by providing more options for environmental enhancement and compliance with Federal, State, and local regulations. More at www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig.

Our Favorite Links

News for Salmon Nation: frequently updated and condensed news for the salmon-bearing parts of the Pacific Coast can be found on Sightline Daily.  An excellent resource.