Get to know your watershed-stream clean up

By Shannon Herbert

The perfect day to get to know your watershed: Saturday May 31st. It was overcast and a bit drizzly, but rays of sunshine could be seen beaming from the faces of our volunteer participants. The North Tay 4-H club met at 10am on the South Branch of the S.W. Miramichi River for a stream clean up, watershed scavenger hunt and BBQ.

We arrived at the public access point and had our scavenger hunt briefing. Each participant was given a notebook, pencil, garbage bag and the list of the 20 items to “hunt” for. The briefing explained the rules of the scavenger hunt and strict instruction against picking anything living and they must collect any garbage from the area to be carried out with us at the end of our activities.

The race was on! The kids scurried throughout the watershed exploring and discovering some of the common edible and medicinal plants, native species of plants and trees, logs chewed by beavers, nests, feathers, birds and the list goes on. We collected three garbage bags worth of refuse from the area, which included chip bags, various containers, beer caps, Styrofoam and a set of batteries (which we set aside for hazardous waste collection)

Taking with us only pictures and leaving behind only footsteps we returned to our “watershed clean up headquarters” on South Ridge Road for a BBQ and mini awards ceremony. All of the volunteers received a certificate of stream clean up participation and names went in for a draw of a few top prizes. Prizes ranged from a set of binoculars, bird houses and books for kids about bird watching. It was the perfect end to a great watershed day. 
We would highly recommend hosting a “Get to Know Your Watershed Clean-Up Day” in your neighborhood. For activity ideas and tips on getting to know your watershed visit www.fallsbrookcentre.ca/watershed or if you would like to receive a copy of the Watershed Action Guide send an email request to shannon@fallsbrookcentre.ca

Falls Brook Centre’s “Community Conservation for Watershed Protection” project is generously funded by EcoAction, and is supported by its many volunteers.