Authored by Brian Tonetti

A grant from Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts & Parks to fund the Seven Creeks | Walk Series. Watershed walks engage participants in observation and collaborative actions to build community connection in uncovering and restoring our buried and impaired creeks.

We are excited to announce $4,200 in grant funding from the Salt Lake County’s Zoo, Arts & Parks program to support our Seven Creeks | Walk Series. We will host watershed walks with students and residents in low-income neighborhoods on the west-side of Salt Lake County. By inviting youth to become involved, seeds of attachment and a sense of ownership are created. Programming lays the foundation for youth to become community leaders to fight for natural spaces, public health, and environmental justice.

Through a watershed-based education curriculum, participants learn about the significance of riparian corridors to regional water quality. Curricula focuses on individual impacts to watershed-scale issues. Participants 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. They learn native plant identification skills and its value to migratory birds and local wildlife. Walks 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, ingrains concepts.