In the Central Valley, the Trust focuses on a two-pronged approach to protect and improve the lower Tuolumne River. Our lower River Parkway initiative focuses on building support for river restoration and protection through public outreach and education. The Revive the River Program focuses on on-the-ground improvements through enhanced fishery flows, habitat restoration, and land protection.

Lower River Parkway
Constituency building is key to the success of the Trust’s programs and to the long-term health of the Tuolumne River. We work to educate people about the river through formal education, community events and media, focusing on opportunities that connect people to the river in a positive and meaningful way.

Our Tuolumne River Adventure Program (TRAC) provides underserved high school youth the opportunity to learn about river safety and enjoy their natural environment. We provide the skills, tools, resources and training so that more underserved youth and their families can safely enjoy the River.
Click here for the program brochure:  English   Spanish

Using a California Standards-based curriculum, Trekking the Tuolumne, our Tuolumne River Outdoor Classroom program targets elementary school children and teachers, educating them about the River and its watershed through classroom activities, field trips and service opportunities. As a result of this experience the school community develops a sense of pride and ownership of the river. In addition, teachers gain the skills and access to equipment needed to continue to use the Tuolumne River as an effective teaching tool on their own.
Click here for the program brochure: Trekking

Our newest program as of March of 2010, Nature and Neighborhood, focuses on reconnecting and educating underserved and monolingual (Spanish-speaking) riverside communities about watershed and environmental social justice issues; making these issues relevant to their communities by focusing on safe spaces where their children can play, improved water quality in the neighborhood, street safety, and cleanups.  By providing capacity building and civic engagement opportunities, we can empower parents and residents to advocate and participate in local and citywide planning efforts for the improvement of their neighborhoods, parks, and river, thus effectively creating a new generation of stewards.

Get Up N' Go Kids provides outdoor recreation, social development, and cultural enrichment activities for youth. Through a diversity of supervised play and experiential learning opportunities, this program will help children thrive at becoming well-rounded and involved members of their community. The program will promote Community Wellness through nature-based recreational sports activities for youth and their families. The overall goal for the program is to get youth more engaged in local outdoor recreation, thus improving their physical and mental well being while increasing their awareness of, and appreciation for, our local natural resources. Tuolumne River Trust and Orville Wright Elementary School are in partnership to bring the youth of the Airport Neighborhood the Get Up N' Go Kids program.

English Get Up N' Go Kids brohure               Spanish brochure

Year round volunteer activities provide an opportunity to educate the public about the river in their backyard while helping maintain its health. By involving students, families, scout groups, and the community at large in restoration work along the River we are able to foster a sense of pride and ownership that makes people more likely to take action to protect and improve the river in the long-term.

Through our Tuolumne Adventures program, the Trust works to build positive and meaningful connections with the River. Canoe trips, hikes and river-oriented events are aimed at providing people with the opportunity to enjoy the River as an outstanding recreational resource. To this end, the Central Valley Program of the Trust is spearheading an effort to create the Lower Tuolumne River Parkway that will improve both habitat and recreational opportunities on the Lower River.

Revive the River
This initiative is aimed to protect and restore one of the great natural floodplains remaining in California's Central Valley to benefit wild salmon and other wildlife. We accomplish this by working with private landowners to increase conserved floodplain and riparian areas while maintaining agricultural lands, working with the irrigation districts to enhance instream habitat and improve fishery releases from Don Pedro Dam, and working with other stakeholders to protect and restore lands throughout the 52-mile reach of the lower Tuolumne River.

Improvements for Tuolumne Fish
The Trust has several notable accomplishments since becoming involved in lower river issues in the early 1990’s. We negotiated with other stakeholders and organizations improved operations of Don Pedro Dam, which resulted in the 1995 Settlement Agreement. This Agreement resulted in increased fishery flows for salmon, a guarantee of 10 habitat restoration projects to be completed by the irrigation districts, a $500,000 contribution from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission for land protection and restoration projects, and an extensive fish study program to monitor the success of habitat restoration work.

Collaborations to Improve Recreation and Habitat
Subsequently, the Trust sought to expand the work initiated by the Settlement Agreement and helped found the Tuolumne River Coalition, a collaborative that included the original signatories to the Settlement Agreement, as well as Stanislaus County, cities along the river, and other local organizations. The Coalition is a collaborative effort to improve habitat and recreational opportunities along the lower Tuolumne River. With the Trust’s participation, the Coalition completed the The Lower Tuolumne River Parkway: A Framework for the Future. The Framework provides a vision and action plan for accomplishing the Coalitions goals.

Click here to view the lower Tuolumne River Parkway Map Map

Dennett Dam Removal
Click here to read more about Tuolumne River Trust's efforts to remove the dangerous and deadly Dennett Dam.

Dos Rios Ranch Restoration
Click here to read more about the restoration of Dos Rios Ranch - 1,600 acres at the confluence of the Tuolumne and San Joaquin Rivers.

On-the-Ground Land Protection and Habitat Restoration at Big Bend
The Trust has partnered with the East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Fish America Foundation, NOAA Restoration Center’s Community-based Restoration Program, and the California Wildlife Conservation Board on the successful Big Bend Floodplain Protection and Habitat Restoration Project. The Big Bend Habitat Restoration is a 240-acre project targeted at improving forest, river, and wildlife habitat along the Tuolumne River. The project resulted, in part, from the 1997 floods, when the site was heavily damaged by the high water surging down from the Sierra. The landowners decided that the best recovery plan for the land was to dedicate it to fish and wildlife habitat. When the project is completed, we will have planted over 25,000 native trees and shrubs and seeded over 150 acres of native grasses and forbes.