Stream Team Workshops -}
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Protection and enhancement of water resources is most successful when citizens and their government work as partners. Citizens provide energy, commitment, and local knowledge of the resource, while government provides direction based on data analysis and community plans plus continuity and tools to get the job done. Stream Team is one example of such a partnership and what Margaret Mead referred to when she said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Often mistaken as a non-profit group, Stream Team is actually a government program sponsored by the Storm and Surface Utilities of Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater, and Thurston County. In a time when citizens are demanding more for their taxes, Stream Team shines as an example of how a little government support can go a long way. Stream Team is funded through taxes and a small amount of donations from local businesses. Approximately a penny per year of each household's and business's Storm and Surface Water Utility fee goes toward supplies, equipment, and staff support for the program. Since 1991, complementary support from local residents and a long list of partner nonprofits and other agencies have stretched a limited budget and staff time into 12,255 volunteer hours. If valued at $10 per hour, Stream Team volunteers have provided $122,550 worth of services to the South Puget Sound community.
The program provides an assortment of educational and action opportunities for citizens who care about their community and the water and wildlife which are part of that community. A founding principle is that individuals need to learn and understand basic water cycle and water quality concepts before they can become active stewards of the resource. The program is jointly coordinated by the four local jurisdictions, with input on direction and projects provided by dedicated volunteers. Stream Team was replicated after the Bellevue Stream Team program and locally initiated in 1991. The partnership of all four local jurisdictions provides an integrated support system for local citizens who want to get involved, and mirrors the watershed principle that rivers and streams are not bound by jurisdictional boundaries.
Most visible of Stream Team's accomplishments are the more than 80 "on-the-ground" action projects (clean-ups, salmon habitat improvements, revegetation with native plants, building viewing platforms and trails, etc.) completed since 1991. Over 2,500 storm drains have been marked with a "Dump No Waste" message; more than 30 revegetation projects have been completed along streambanks and in other areas to enhance wildlife habitat and prevent erosion; and tons of garbage have been removed from creeks and wetlands, preventing contamination and restoring these areas to their natural beauty.
Like the streams and rivers they care so much about, program volunteers possess a "sense of place" that goes beyond jurisdictional boundaries. Volunteer Don Eveleth lives in the Kennedy Creek watershed, but has worked on projects along Moxlie Creek, Eaton Creek, and Woodland Creek (just to name a few!). Volunteer Janet Franks got her start with Stream Team by helping out on the Indian Creek reroute project along Plum Street, because her office was nearby. Even though she lives near Summit Lake and now works in Tumwater, she still attends almost every event. The staff from the various jurisdictions recognize that the altruistic behavior of the volunteers reaches beyond jurisdictional boundaries. A single database to track volunteer activities and frequent communications among staff assists in providing a flexible program where volunteers can work anywhere and on any project, but still receive team support.
Stream Team volunteers conduct aquatic insect, water quality, and habitat assessments on a quarterly basis. With approximately 45 volunteers monitoring streams, wetlands, and wildlife, Stream Team contributes to a better understanding of local water resources and increases city and county response to potential problems. Volunteers play an important role, providing extra eyes and ears and strong backs when overworked professionals are too busy to get out into the field or the job is too expensive to do with hired labor. For example, Stream Team volunteer Dave Ring identified three illegal human-made dams on lower Percival Creek in 1996 that were fish blockages. This allowed for the removal of the dams just before hundreds of fall spawning chinook arrived in the creek.
In the past four years, 1,380 volunteer hours have been spent providing guidance and safety at the Stream Team summer day camps for 8 to13 year olds.
The camps provide a great opportunity for volunteers to hone their environmental education and mentoring skills. Volunteers are role models for attitudes toward the environment and provide needed adult leadership for youth who may not be getting it elsewhere. The camps are held amid the tall trees of Priest Point Park, a perfect setting for youth to learn science through games, songs, art, journal writing, and get-your-feet-wet learning. These three-day water quality camps reflect the larger program's structure of education leading to action. Both the younger "Forest, Stream, and Sound" camp and the older "Adventure to Action" camp are designed to provide youth with memorable outdoor experiences and a basic understanding of watersheds, water quality, and wildlife. Many of the campers have carried stewardship home from the camps, completing a "Backyard Bingo Card" of specific actions that contribute tobetter water quality or singing their "Stream Song" for family and friends.
Strengths of Stream Team are the broad continuum of basic education to get-dirty service opportunities it provides, and its "revolving door" approach to volunteer participation. Each quarter the program offers a workshop, a field trip, trainings, monitorings, and action projects. The workshops are designed to introduce a topic and the field trips provide more in-depth information. Past workshops have featured the groundwater connection, riparian mammals and birds, monitoring techniques, estuaries, and landscaping for wildlife. With titles like "Whillow Whips and Root Wads," the workshops are interactive and meant to equip residents with practical strategies for improving and protecting their favorite backyard stream or wetland (see box for upcoming workshops). Also, the workshops are where sign-ups for field trips and trainings are offered and upcoming action projects are announced. This makes Stream Team workshops a main jumping-on point for volunteers.
Volunteers are officially welcomed into the program when they complete an Interest Survey form, which gives them a chance to articulate the geographic locations (streams, watersheds) and activities (monitoring, office assistance, stream restoration, etc.) that interest them. Once completed, the information is added to the database and they receive a handbook, the quarterly newsletter and calendar, and occasional notices about upcoming action projects.
Everyone can volunteer even if they aren't members. Thousands of hours have been contributed by individuals and groups (e.g. Eagle Scouts, church groups, school clubs, students) wanting one-time service opportunities. Stenciling storm drains during warm weather is a one-time activity that anyone can do for a few hours without signing on as a member. Work parties are set up so that anyone can drop by and spend a couple hours alongside neighbors doing something worthwhile for a local creek, and Stream Team staff are willing to work with motivated individuals or groups that want a customized service opportunity. Whether a volunteer spends 1 hour or 101, every hour counts.
Being on the team has its advantages. Members receive better communication about educational and service opportunities, and more chances to connect with other citizens deeply committed to stewardship of our local water resources. They also receive T-shirts, mugs, hats, field guides, and other incentives as they earn hours. Most accept these incentives as badges of honor or a nice reminder of their time with Stream Team-but some volunteers turn down such rewards. At the core of Stream Team's success is the joy of working with neighbors toward a better community. There is powerful magic in strangers coming together to plant 100 willows in rainy November or to swing a three-man rock into place for salmon habitat. A magic worth far more than a T-shirt.
Cedar Wells is the coordinator of the Stream Team project in Olympia.
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Stream Team Camps
"Forest, Stream, and Sound" - Camp for 8-10 year olds: July 15-17
"Adventure to Action" - Camps for 11-13 year olds: July 29-31 & Aug. 5-7 Cost is $40. Register with the Olympia Center, 753-8380. For more information or to volunteer as a camp counselor, call 753-8454.
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Stream Team Workshops
"Salmon of Percival Creek": - Wednesday, July 9, 7:00 p.m., Thurston County Courthouse, Bld 1, Room 152. For more information, call Susie Vanderburg, Thurston County Stream Team, 754-4681.
"Living with a Wetland": Wednesday, October 8, 7:00 p.m., Thurston County Courthouse, Bld 1, Room 152. For more information, call Don Willson, Lacey Stream Team, 438-2687.
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