Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts & Parks funding for Seven Creeks | Walk Series
Authored by Brian Tonetti
Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts, & Parks funding will host 25 watershed walks through the Seven Creeks | Walk Series. Programming lays the foundation for participants to become community leaders to fight for natural spaces, public health, and environmental justice.
With the $5,000 in funding from Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts & Parks, we will host 25 watershed walks with students and residents in the low-income, highly-diverse neighborhoods of Salt Lake City and South Salt Lake. The Seven Creeks | Walk Series serves neighborhoods in which the seven creeks flow. Our focus is on underserved, low-income communities who have lost access to their waterways due to creek burial, channelization, and degradation. By inviting youth to become involved, seeds of attachment and a sense of ownership will be created.
Through a watershed-based education curriculum, participants will learn about the significance of riparian corridors to regional water quality. Curricula will focus on individual impacts to watershed-scale issues. Participants will learn easy, low- or no-cost solutions and behavioral change to prevent the spread of invasive weeds and reduce water pollution, such as eliminating fertilizer use at home. Participants will learn native plant identification skills and its value to migratory birds and local wildlife. Walks will get youth and families outdoors in healthy activity. Meaningful, on-the-ground restoration work, including invasive plant removal, native habitat plantings, and trash clean-ups, will ingrain concepts.
Students will gain valuable experience from local experts about watershed issues. Programming will identify creative solutions to address social issues, such as graffiti, crime, and homeless encampments, along County waterways. Youth will be exposed to professional mentors, community organizations, and creative exploration of their urban ecosystem. Through this program, students will be introduced to the wonders of nature in their backyard, increasing the understanding of the relationship between urban development and the watershed.
