Caring for creek becomes community affair

The Nathanson Creek stewards are gathering steam for a season of creekside activities for all ages, ranging from educational tours and riparian restoration to a front-on assault on litter.
Recently, Nathanson Creek stewardship leaders Joyce Carlson and Stacey Ward, SVHS Earth Club co-presidents Alexa and Melissa Carlson and Sonoma Ecology Center (SEC) Watershed/Stewardship Coordinator Julie Jehly met to map out new plans and challenges for the year ahead. Alexa and Melissa Carlson proposed three ideas:
1) The development of a junior docent program in which middle-school children would follow the adult model and lead interested people on tours of the preserve.
2) A potential partnership with the Sonoma Community Arts Center in which they could create projects such as having benches painted by local artists.
3) Monthly cleanup projects of garbage and debris near the creek.
The group, in subsequent interviews, described the creek project with a combination of enthusiasm and appreciation.
“It’s quite a unique thing to have a preserve so close to the center of town,” said Melissa Carlson, noting that restoring the area and placing nice benches will create an inviting atmosphere and show people the importance of keeping the creek healthy and clean. “It’ll promote people to come down and spend more time in nature,” she said. “It’s a great little habitat spot,” said Jehly. “If you look around, this county is so urban, and here’s this whole little nature area. It’s residents’ nature resource in an urban setting.”
Sandi Funke, education program manager for the SEC, explained that the program builds on a sense of common ownership.  “It’s through [that sense of] ownership that we develop with the children that they learn to feel it’s their creek and they want to keep it clean,” she said.
Alexa Carlson noted the upcoming Coastal Cleanup Day, which will end with a celebration. “On Sept. 20, the Sonoma Ecology Center is hosting a creek cleanup from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Everyone’s meeting behind the high school and afterwards, there’ll be a fiesta to celebrate the work that the adults and students have done at the creek.” For more information, contact julie@sonomaecologycenter.org.