Volunteers Wanted: Creek Week 2021 A Fun and Community Service Opportunity | North Springs Edition

Creek Week 2021 is an opportunity for volunteers not only to participate in valuable community service, but also to cultivate camaraderie with a group of like-minded participants. And there’s the benefit of creating a cleaner creek environment too.

From September 25th through October 3rd, everyone is invited to make a difference by cleaning up an area of ​​their choice during the 8th annual Creek Week Clean-Up. These include parks, trails, waterways, and open spaces in El Paso, Teller, and Pueblo counties. Volunteers of all ages and ability are invited to contribute as much time as they like – from an hour to a day or more.

Alli Schuch, Outreach Coordinator for Fountain Creek Watershed, Flood Control and Greenway District, saw the need to take an extremely proactive approach to managing waste in and around water catchment areas as early as 2014. She sees Creek Week as a “gate to” [a volunteer] become a turning point warrior! ”The work of the Watershed District protects the community through flood control, maintaining clean water, and participating in recreational and open space management.

Creek Week in the first year took place in 2014, and 650 volunteers attended. This year is expected to be a record year. By the first full week of September, 3,000 volunteers had signed up to clean up over 60 sites during this year’s nine-day program.

Volunteers can either form their own group or join a specific group. The locations are on land and in the water, and attendees are welcome to identify new locations as well – for example, their own neighborhood or a previously unidentified site that could use some TLC.

“My job is to create a community connection so that people think about how their daily actions affect our parks and recreation areas,” said Schuch.

Eight communities are actively participating in the event: the cities of Colorado Springs, Green Mountain Falls, Fountain, Manitou Springs, Monument, Palmer Lake, Pueblo, and Woodland Park.

The district extends for 927 square miles from Palmer Lake to Pueblo. Fountain Creek is the second most studied and most irregular watershed in the United States. Erosive soils, population boom and a lack of rainwater management mean that Fountain Creek needs help repairing and preventing further damage.

Creek Week is the largest cleanup in the state of Colorado. Schuch emphasizes that this is a safe outdoor activity that will benefit our community tremendously. She is happy about the overwhelming enthusiasm of the people who want to get out and do something good.

Bags, gloves and training materials are provided for the volunteers. Other welcome items include grapples, buckets, and anything else volunteers bring to help clean up.

Littering can be managed with both small and large efforts. Small changes in behavior, like collecting dog poop, wisely using irrigation systems, and planting seeds, can all benefit watershed health.

“Garbage and debris are widespread in our waterways – clogging drainage systems, affecting wildlife, impairing water quality and ruining the view of our natural landscapes. Help improve the health of our catchment area and all communities that lie within its borders and downstream, ”Schuch said in a press release.

Major problems include deliberate littering, improperly managed rubbish, limited dumpster availability, lack of large-scale rubbish campaigns and a lack of education.

According to Schuch, children are not yet learning the enormous difference they can make now and in the future to keep watersheds clean and healthy.

“Creek Week is a great way for the people of Colorado Springs to give back to their community,” said volunteer Lisa Weidenbach. She notes that many companies are putting teams together for Creek Week to improve team building and give back in unique ways. In 2020, her enterprising team dug a shopping cart out of a stream and used it to haul garbage bags to the collection point.

Schuch giggles at items found in recent years of cleanup, like a Nixon mask, half a case of unopened beer, cash, a locked safe (which was turned over to law enforcement), and leg bones that were believed to be human were and as if they belonged to a dead deer. There were plenty of cigarette butts, but they are nightmares everywhere, she said.

Schuch suspects that used masks will be a big problem this year.

Bill Banks, executive director of the Fountain Creek Watershed District, is investigating sources of funding such as a potential mill levy to be voted on in future elections. He says there is no stable source of funding for the district and that up to $ 200 million in repairs are outstanding.

As an example of the enthusiasm of the Watershed District staff, Schuch concludes: “The value of parks, hiking trails and healthy waterways is immeasurable. The recreational, cultural, animal and economic values ​​that water offers us justify our attention and preservation. Creek Week is an easy way to give back … with thousands of your friends and neighbors! “

For more information and to register for Creek Week 2021, visit Fountain-crk.com/register.