StreamTeams: Community members protect local waters
By Curry Rosato, watershed outreach coordinator for the City of Boulder/Keep it Clean Partnership, and Paul Hempel, executive director of the Boulder Creek Watershed Initiative
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StreamTeam participants clean up trash from Coal Creek in Louisville. |
A cooperative project sponsored by the Keep it Clean Partnership (KICP), Boulder Creek Watershed Initiative (BCWI), the City of Boulder and the U.S. Geological Survey, the StreamTeam program is a way for community members in the Boulder and St. Vrain Creek watersheds to be actively involved in protecting their local waters.
StreamTeam members are students, teachers, families, professionals, community group members and interested citizens who commit to completing a few actions each year, and make a visible and lasting impact in their local watershed. In 2008, 265 StreamTeam volunteers helped take water quality samples and collect trash at 30 locations throughout the Boulder and St. Vrain Creek watersheds.
Utilizing citizen volunteers to address water quality concerns was identified in the BCWI Boulder Creek Community Stewardship Plan, which was completed in 2007. In 2008, BCWI initiated a comprehensive water quality monitoring program, in collaboration with the KICP, using grants obtained from the Healthy Rivers Fund, the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County, and Boulder County, in order to better understand and define the overall chemical, biological, and physical health of Boulder Creek and its tributaries.
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| StreamTeam water quality testing Photo provided by Curry Rosato |
While many teams complete quarterly creek cleanups, other teams participate in monthly water quality monitoring activities. From soda cans to shopping carts, hundreds of pounds of trash are removed each year from streams in the Boulder and St. Vrain watersheds. One Boulder StreamTeam has participated in the program for over 8 years. Once a month, together as a family, this StreamTeam cleans up a section of Skunk Creek.
Teams who choose to participate in water quality monitoring activities are trained to measure temperature, dissolved oxygen, flow, pH (acidity/alkalinity), nitrates, phosphates and conductivity. The water quality data that StreamTeams collect supplement data collected monthly by area towns and cities, Boulder County and the state. The main purpose of designing, implementing, and carrying out a water quality monitoring program for the Boulder Creek watershed is to gather baseline data of various chemical parameters over time.
Many StreamTeams working in the Boulder Creek watershed are also trained to conduct physical habitat evaluations and biological monitoring of macroinvertebrates. These activities will be officially incorporated into the overall program for 2009. Together, water chemistry, physical habitat evaluations and biological monitoring make up a comprehensive evaluation of the overall health of Boulder Creek and its tributaries.
“After a long day (or week) at the office, I look forward to heading out to our team’s South Boulder Creek sampling location with my fellow team members to collect our monthly samples. It is rewarding knowing that our efforts are contributing to the characterization of the ambient water quality in the Boulder Creek watershed. What I had not counted on was the added bonus of making new friends with my fellow sampling team members,” said South Boulder Creek StreamTeam member Brian Vickers.
Streams in the Boulder and St. Vrain Creek watersheds, like all streams in Colorado, are important to everyone. The people who live in the watersheds use our waterways for drinking water, agriculture, recreation and sustaining aquatic life. By protecting and embracing them, StreamTeam members help maintain their importance and character for generations to come.
In addition to supporting StreamTeams, the KICP also provides kindergarten through adult educational programs, watershed stewardship programs, and speakers for civic groups and homeowners’ associations. The KICP and BCWI can be contacted through links from BASIN.org (Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network), or by going directly to their Web sites at http://keepitcleanpartnership.org and http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/bcwi.