One of Grass Valley's newest nonprofits, the Wolf Creek Community Alliance, received an unexpected $5,000 to boost its creek monitoring program, a spokesperson said this week.

The group kicked off its monitoring program with a $10,500 grant in February, planning to sample four sites per month with 10 volunteers along Grass Valley's largest creek. However, volunteer enthusiasm increased the number of sites to 16, a spokesperson said.

Therefore, the Sierra Nevada Alliance agreed to give another $5,000 to the group, calling the creek efforts "remarkable."

The Sierra Nevada Alliance is a South Lake Tahoe-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting the Sierra Nevada.

Wolf Creek Community Alliance is sampling water to document the baseline condition of the creek, a preliminary step toward eventual restoration.