Wanted: Volunteer Stream Stewards

Stream Stewards

Clark Public Utilities’ Stream Stewards education and volunteer opportunity is open to adults of all backgrounds and experience levels.

o The training includes six Saturday sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. beginning Sept. 20 and three Tuesday workshops from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

o For more information or to apply, visit the program http://www.StreamStewards.net, call 360-992-8585, or email streamteam@clarkpud.com. The deadline for applications is Thursday.

Alyson Day spent almost 40 hours in classes and then another 45 volunteering to become a Stream Steward.

She has planted trees, cared for saplings and spread the word about environmental stewardship at local events as part of the Clark Public Utilities program.

Amid all her efforts, a stint last fall stands out in her mind. She was helping Boy Scouts plant trees near Mill Creek.

“The kids got into it,” recalled Day, an instructor at Washington State University Vancouver. “They were asking me a lot of questions. That was exciting. It was like passing the torch.”

Those who want to join Day’s efforts to save salmon and protect clean water can apply to join the Stream Stewards program, which provides a series of hands-on workshops in exchange for at least 45 volunteer hours.

The utility invests about $9,000 a year in the program because of its long-term interest in providing clean water to customers in unincorporated Clark County, said Jeff Wittler, environmental services manager for Clark Public Utilities.

Without the program, those Boy Scouts probably still would have planted trees, but “they wouldn’t have come away with an understanding of why they were out for four hours in the rain and cold,” Wittler said. But because Day was there working with them, she was able to explain the role of trees in providing habitat and filtering pollutants from water.

The Stream Stewards training program, part of the overall StreamTeam effort, kicks off Sept. 20 and includes six Saturday sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and three Tuesday workshops from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The deadline for applications for the program, which accepts about 30 students a year, is Thursday.

“Stream Stewards provides so much more than a volunteer opportunity,” said Ashley King, StreamTeam coordinator at Clark Public Utilities. “It’s a chance to meet like-minded people in the community, learn new things about our local environment, and get involved in efforts that have a visible and lasting positive impact right here in Clark County.”

Stream Stewards is the only such program locally since the demise of the Watershed Stewards program.

The utility’s Stream Stewards program began in 1998, a year before the Watershed Stewards program. For years the programs existed alongside one another, with many local volunteers participating in both.

A grant from Clark County’s Clean Water Fund paid for the Watershed Stewards program, which was administered by the Washington State University Clark County Extension. County commissioners cut the funding last year.

Doug Stienbarger, director of the local WSU extension, said even though the program is defunct, he tries to email notices of other service opportunities to the 100 or so who had volunteered for the Watershed Stewards.

“Several of them were pretty dedicated,” said Stienbarger. “They would be doing this with or without us.”

About a dozen of them have contacted Clark Public Utilities about volunteering for the StreamTeam, the 1,000 or so volunteers who assist with the utilities’ environmental efforts, King said.

You don’t have to take the classes to volunteer for the StreamTeam, King said, but Stream Stewards gain the expertise necessary to perform more advanced work, such as assisting with the annual salmon redd survey, testing water quality or leading tree planting events.

The classes cover the hydrologic cycle, local geology and plant identification, among other topics. The series is worth the investment of time, Day said. “It didn’t feel onerous at all.”