Watershed stewardship is not all in the “big” wins and success stories. Stewardship can be practiced daily through appreciation and the simple act of noticing and sharing what is around you.
Celebrating Water is an effort to encourage us to share the wonders that water brings to us through photos, poems, art, writing, or however you like to share the waters you cherish. If you have a Celebrating Water moment to share, email us at awwprog@auburn.edu!
Enjoy this story about a Girl Scout troop practicing watershed stewardship!
A Girl Scout Birthday Celebration
By Amy Zvonar
During the month of October, Girl Scout troops all over the country celebrate the birthday of their founder, Juliette Gordon Low. Most will choose to do a service project in honor of Juliette’s commitment to the Girl Scouts (she sold her pearls to ensure the future of the Girl Scout organization). This year, Troop 7063 from Auburn chose to clean up litter in Chewacla State Park and support the Moore’s Mill Creek Watershed Project. Although they did not wear pearls, they certainly celebrated in fashion with gloves, sturdy shoes, garbage bags, and a commitment to clean water!
The scouts worked with AUWRC staff and Moore’s Mill Creek Watershed project leader, Laura Cooley, to complete the clean-up. Laura helped the girls understand why cleaning up litter from the land is an important way to celebrate and protect water. The Moore’s Mill Creek watershed is considered ‘impaired’ by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM)for not meeting its Fish + Wildlife and Swimming use water quality standards. One way the public can help improve the watershed is by preventing litter from reaching waterways. Before hitting the trail, the girls imagined how a chip bag or water bottle top on a trail could find its way into the water and cause harm to animals.
Being in sight of the water also helped the girls be curious about other ways human actions can impact the water. Several girls noticed the brown and cloudy water in the lake. Laura explained how sediment is one of the concerns ADEM has for the waterway. She helped the girls understand how sediment can erode from the land and wash down storm drains, ending up in the water. The girls still have a journey to take to learn more about turbidity and how sediment impacts water, but they began to understand the impacts of sedimentation from their first-hand experience seeing the cloudy water and wondering about its effects on animals and on our sources of drinking water.
Celebrating and protecting water does not require going in it, and the girls stuck to the trails and banks for their litter clean-up. But they were able to find many natural wonders along the way! A few of the treasures they were most excited about finding were minnows swimming in the water, a freshwater mussel shell, and a perfectly preserved snail shell.
Even the trash they found was exciting, as they wove stories about how it could have arrived at the place it was found on the trail. The found object stories that the girls created to explain the litter they found helped them understand how important it is to be responsible about disposing of their own trash at home and when out hiking or camping. For example, they found a plastic water bottle that still had water inside and wondered if someone had forgotten it at their picnic site. Another story concerned small pieces of litter like a fruit snack bag or a candy wrapper. Maybe these were not properly secured and flew away, the girls wondered, and the person they belonged to didn’t notice or could not retrieve them? We even found a bike reflector along the trail and hoped it didn’t come off one of the bikes that had passed us recently!
Encouraged by passersby who applauded their efforts, Troop 7063 collected litter for nearly 1.5 hours. At the end of the clean-up, the girls had found many fascinating natural treasures and collected nearly 25 lbs of litter that would no longer get into the stream, including removing a tire from the stream bank with adult help. When they return to walk the trails of Chewacla with their family and friends, they will see the creek and lake a little differently because they had a hand in protecting it. Laura asked all the girls at the end if, after seeing and collecting the litter, they would be more responsible with disposing of their own trash. All the girls responded with, “yes!”. We hope that you will visit Chewacla State Park, or another body of water near you, and appreciate the efforts of groups like Troop 7063!
