By: Aidan Hatch
Michael White, a Chemistry teacher at Redwood High School, played a significant role in the transformation of the Dry Creek Preserve. This nature preserve is a 152-acre piece of property owned by the Sequoia Riverlands Trust, and it is located at 35220 Dry Creek Dr, Woodlake, CA 93286.
The Sequoia Riverlands Trust is a non-profit organization that owns several preserves including the Kaweah Oaks Preserve and the Dry Creek Preserve.
“I started working there in 2003-2007”, says White. He volunteered at the Kawaeh Oaks Preserve for about a year until the Sequoia Riverlands Trust hired him on as a contract biologist.
After six months, White had gotten his foot in the door by working at several of their preserves around the county, and they eventually hired him on full time as a Preserve Technician.
During this time, the Sequoia Riverlands Trust was gaining ownership of the Dry Creek Preserve, and White was tasked with working on their reclamation project.
“I remember going out there, and it was like the surface of the moon.”
White recalls his first time visiting the preserve.
The piece of land was previously owned by a gravel company, so the entire preserve used to be “all gravel, hardly any plants, [and] spoil piles everywhere … “, says White.
“That was a big part of what I did out there was running irrigation, … we started the nursery that’s out there, we were collecting seed, propagating the plants, and then replanting them out in the preserve.”
White describes his role in the reclamation project.
According to White, a majority of the vegetation out there came from native seeds that him and his partner replanted.
Looking back throughout the years, White feels that it was “super rewarding to be able to see that place come along from being total ruin … “.
In his AP Environmental Science course, White teaches a topic known as succession. Succession is a natural process in which biological communities evolve over time.
By “[monitoring] how the plant species were coming back”, White and his partner were able to track the succession of the Dry Creek Preserve.
Thanks to his background in biology, White was hired by the Sequoia Riverlands Trust. One of his jobs was to replant native species , and record their growth. Thanks to his hard work, we are able to enjoy the Dry Creek Preserve today.
Tags: Dry Creek Preserve, Mr. White, redwood high school, redwood rangers