UC Davis Institute of the Environment

04/30/2025

The UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS) was recently featured in a CBS News Bay Area segment about the research being conducted on salmon ear bones - known as otoliths - and about the restoration efforts that brought the salmon back to Putah Creek. 🐟

Like tree rings, each layer of the salmon's ear bone carries a chemical map of where the fish spent its life. In the Rypel Lab at the Center for Watershed Sciences, otoliths collected from Putah Creek were examined to discover when the salmon were born, when they started migrating to the sea, how long they were in the ocean, and when they returned. Lauren Hitt, a graduate student researcher at the center, found that most of the salmon spawned from a distant hatchery, and ended their lifecycle in Putah Creek.

Read more about the project and watch the feature at the link in our bio or visit: https://environment.ucdavis.edu/news/CWS-Rypel-Lab-Otoliths

04/12/2025

In the final hours of Give Day, we’d like to sincerely thank you for all your continued support of our efforts to create climate solutions for current and future generations. 🌎
Let’s unite to preserve a sustainable environment by funding training for the next generation of climate science leaders.
We appreciate any donation you can give, no matter the size, to our challenges. Please visit the link in our bio or go to: https://giveto.ucdavis.edu/campaigns/49335/donations/new...

04/11/2025

🌟Give Day 2025 is officially here!🌟

Support the Institute as we combat climate change, train the next generation of environmental leaders, encourage interdisciplinary water management research, and preserve California’s wild heritage.

➡️Donations starting at $5 help us unlock additional large challenge gifts. Give today: https://giveto.ucdavis.edu/campaigns/49335/donations/new?designation=ucdavisinstituteoftheenvironmentsupport

04/10/2025

🌄Join the UC Davis Natural Reserve System’s challenge to Preserve California’s Wild Heritage!🌄
is one of the Institute of the Environment’s many centers’ facilitating climate research. This challenge supports UC Davis’s six diverse reserves, part of the world’s largest university field station network.

Your gift safeguards critical research, education, and stewardship of California’s precious ecosystems—ensuring a thriving future. 15 contributions will unlock a generous $5,000 challenge gift from Paul Siri and Kate Bolton.

➡️Give here: https://giveto.ucdavis.edu/campaigns/49335/donations/new?designation=naturalreservesystemfund

04/09/2025

🌎Climate change is an urgent challenge facing our planet, and finding ways to mitigate climate change is woven through each of the pillars we use to elevate our work.🌎

Help us advance solutions to climate change this Give Day by donating to our Climate Crisis Challenge Fund. Seventy-five contributions will unlock a very generous $75,000 challenge gift. Donations starting at $5 help us toward this goal!

➡️Give today: https://giveto.ucdavis.edu/campaigns/49335/donations/new?designation=ucdavisinstituteoftheenvironmentsupport

04/08/2025

🌱Help us train the next generation of environmental leaders with a gift to our JY Environmental Champions Challenge this Give Day!🌱

This challenge will provide opportunities for researchers, early-career scientists, and students dedicated to shaping the science behind sustainable decision-making. 15 gifts to the fund activate a $2,500 challenge.

➡️Give today: https://giveto.ucdavis.edu/campaigns/49335/donations/new?designation=ucdavisinstituteoftheenvironmentsupport

04/07/2025

💧Water connects us all – on campus, across California, and globally.💧

The Lund Water Management Dissertation Fellowship Challenge encourages interdisciplinary water management research in student dissertations. The challenge comes from the UC Davis Center for Watershed Management, a center at the UC Davis Institute of the Environment that is discovering ways to understand and solve California's complex weather and water issues.

➡️Give today to help us unlock this challenge from Jay and Jean Lund! 15 gifts of $5 or more on activate a $134,800 challenge gift: https://giveto.ucdavis.edu/campaigns/49335/donations/new?designation=watershedsciencecentergeneralsupport

04/04/2025

💥Give Day 2025 is officially one week away!💥

Now more than ever, we need your support to advance the Institute’s goals of:

🔹Fighting climate change
🔹Training the next generation of environmental leaders
🔹Encouraging interdisciplinary water management research
🔹Preserving California’s wild heritage.

You can be a part of creating climate solutions for today and tomorrow. Donations starting at $5 help us activate generous challenge gifts.

Give early by visiting the link: https://giveto.ucdavis.edu/schools/UniversityofCaliforniaDavis/give-day-2025/pages/officeofresearch2025/instituteoftheenvironment2025

03/31/2025

We're excited to announce the applications call for the 2025-2026 Earth and Environmental Climate Justice Scholar awards!

The Institute’s scholars are striving to endeavor into research that compliments the Institute’s pillars of managing water, transitioning energy, sequestering carbon, building resilience to fire, improving health, and inspiring action through art.

Earth Scholars are graduate students who advance progress on the Institute’s pillars and initiatives and Environmental and Climate Justice Scholars engage in work that contributes to environmental justice, including the resolution of environmental inequalities or the improvement of environmental health.

To learn more please visit the link in our bio or visit: https://environment.ucdavis.edu/ie-scholars-applications-call

03/20/2025

An unlikely partnership between the Winnemem Wintu tribe and California state and federal agencies is revitalizing winter-run chinook salmon spawning efforts in the McCloud River. 🐟

Read more about how fish biologist, Rachel Johnson at the Institute of the Environment’s Center for Watershed Sciences is working on new methods for studying wild fish with input from Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk.

Read more about salmon spawning efforts in the McCloud River: https://environment.ucdavis.edu/news/collaboration-between-winnemem-wintu-and-state-agencies-revitalizes-salmon-spawning-hopes-in-mccloud-river
# salmon Winnemem Wintu Tribe UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Collaboration Between Winnemem Wintu Tribe and State Agencies Revitalizes Salmon Spawning Hopes in the McCloud River This winter, for the first time in 80 years, salmon that began their lives in the McCloud are likely coming back from the ocean to spawn. by Elena Peters March 19, 2025 The Winnemem W...

03/14/2025

Give Day 2025 is fast approaching. Early giving is now open in the countdown to the official Give Day on April 11-12th.

Join us in celebrating environmental champions' efforts to research sustainable solutions to our world's most pressing climate challenges.

Visit the link to give now: https://giveto.ucdavis.edu/schools/UniversityofCaliforniaDavis/give-day-2025/pages/officeofresearch2025/instituteoftheenvironment2025

UC Davis Give Day 2025: Institute of the Environment

03/12/2025

The UC Davis Institute of the Environment 2025 Newsletter is now live!📥

View the newsletter at the link below.

Marie Fleming, an Institute Environmental and Climate Justice Scholar, is making impactful change in Madagascar through transdisciplinary research. Fleming's work explores the delicate balance between livelihood, food security, and biodiversity, offering sustainable solutions. Her approach ensure...