Stewardship Tip Jan 4th,2011 -Urban Stream Restoration
The large and the famous always filter to the top of the page. As Billy Joel sang, “Rose, he knows he’s such a credit to the game, but the Yankees grab the headlines every time.” The big apples of stream restoration projects, such as the Klamath Dam Removal, rival the size of five boroughs and involve a cast of characters almost as complex as those in Spiderman: TURN OFF THE DARK. Restoring a river such as the Klamath is a mammoth proposition; such a project becomes famous, literally, because of its size. The prospect of reclaiming a famous fishery adds luster to the story.
You don’t have to live in New York, or on the Klamath, to hit a home run, though. Of equal importance is your local, urban stream. Protecting and restoring your local watershed can have a positive impact. Water from your local, urban stream flows into another body of water. When smaller streams feed clear, clean water to larger streams and rivers, habitat improves for humans and fish.
There are many urban projects, such as the Cole Creek Restoration, that need your help. The jobs can vary from planting bioretention gardens to removing non-native vegetation. If you can spare a volunteer hour or two to help clean up and restore an urban stream, you will be doing a favor that will help the fish in your backyard. You will also be helping the fish that live downstream.
To find a restoration project in your neighborhood, check with your local, municipal government. Also, check with your state’s department of natural resrouces. Even if there is not an organized project in your community, just picking up trash from stream banks or removing junk from the streambed will help an urban stream.
We may not live on well-known, famous river, but our actions in our local watersheds, however small they may be, will help the fish locally and downstream.
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