Program 02 · Learn With Us
Education & Events
Field walks, talks, and the annual Fungus Foray — plus our long-running Tree Rings journal and books. Come deepen your connection to the watershed.
November 2026
01 · Upcoming
What's coming up
1 event · November
NOV
7
Workshop · Free
Intro to Forest Entrepreneurship Bootcamp
Sat.–Sun., Nov. 7–8 (two days)Sierra College, Rocklin Campus, Rocklin, CA
A tuition-free, two-day business bootcamp from Sierra Commons and the Sierra Business Council for people launching or growing forest-based businesses — fuels work, prescribed fire, wood products, biomass, and more. YWI Executive Director Chris Friedel is presenting.
More Info
Contact: Sierra Commons
More Info
Contact: Sierra Commons
Recent Past Events
August 27, 2026
Hard Choices in the Woods Town Hall
Miners Foundry Cultural Center, 325 Spring St, Nevada City, CA 95959
June 24, 2026
YFN Summer Field Tour: Broadcast Burn Units
Carpool from Nevada City / Rood Center — details provided upon registration
April 11, 2026
Little Deer Creek Spring Field Tour (Weekend)
Nevada County Sportsmen Parking Lot, 11296 Banner Mountain Trail, Nevada City, CA
April 7, 2026
Little Deer Creek Spring Field Tour (Weekday)
Nevada County Sportsmen Parking Lot, 11296 Banner Mountain Trail, Nevada City, CA
02 · Annual Event
The Fungus Foray
Since 2000 · Every Fall
A community ritual of curiosity
Every fall, mushroom hunters of every level converge on the San Juan Ridge for a weekend of foraging, identification, and shared meals. Specimens come in from across the watershed; mycologists help sort and label them on long tables.
The Foray is part field-trip, part science lab, part potluck — and it’s open to anyone curious about the fungal world beneath our feet.
- Next Foray
- December 12-13, 2026
- Location
- North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center
- Cost
- TBD · Members discounted
- Notify Me
- Join the mailing list
03 · Publication
Tree Rings Journal
11 issues online · 2008–2021
Tree Rings is YWI’s long-running journal — a blend of science, essays, poetry, and art rooted in the Yuba watershed. The most recent issues are digitized and free to read online; earlier issues are being scanned and added as they become available.
30
Years in print
11
Issues online
∞
Free to read
Now accepting submissions · Issue 31
Send us your writing, art, and observations
This issue’s theme: how you relate to the natural world around you. Do you stop and really look? What do you pay particular attention to? What thrills you, and what frightens you? Put yourself in it.
We welcome essays and stories (up to about 1,000 words), poems, drawings, paintings, photographs, and short wildlife sightings. All ages are welcome, especially folks who live on or have strong ties to the San Juan Ridge and the Yuba watershed.
Deadline
To be announced
Email a submission
Send to info@yubawatershedinstitute.org with “Tree Rings” in the subject. Attach writing as a Word file or paste it in, and send images as full-size JPGs. Include your name, phone number, and a sentence about yourself.
Or mail it to Yuba Watershed Institute, PO Box 2198, Nevada City, CA 95959. Original artwork is scanned and returned; please include a return address.
Please send only your own work. You keep the rights to it and give YWI permission to publish it in print and online.
Issues 2008–2021 are digitized and free to read above. The full archive back to 1991 hasn’t been digitized yet — we’re scanning the earlier issues and will add them here as they become available.
04 · Publication
Buy the Book
Comstock Bonanza Press · 2010
The Nature of This Place
Edited by Bruce Boyd & Liese Greensfelder · Foreword by Gary Snyder
A curated selection of essays, poems, photographs, and drawings from Tree Rings (1991–2010). The book traces YWI’s first two decades and the people, places, and ideas that shaped the watershed’s stewardship community.
$29.00Buy via PayPal →
Shipping and any applicable tax are calculated at checkout based on your shipping address.
05 · From the Forest
Wild Neighbors
Video & trail-cam photos
Our work is forest health and education — but the forest has its own life going on, mostly out of sight. We’ve gathered a featured video from wildlife biologist Jeff Alvarez on reading a western pond turtle, alongside a small gallery of what our trail cameras have caught over the years.
The cameras have been deployed informally, not as a monitoring program. We share what they’ve caught because the forest’s other residents are worth knowing.
Visit Wild Neighbors →Never miss an event
Occasional emails when new events, foray dates, or journal issues are announced. No spam.