Water Conservation Education Program Kicks Off

This summer the Watauga Intake Project began a water conservation education program led by Certified North Carolina Environmental Educator Marisa Sedlak. Three successful programs were held: Salamander Searching, Landscaping with Native Plants, and Buckeye Creek Stream Survey.

Salamander Searching – Participants were led on a search through Grassy Gap Creek trail to find salamanders. The group learned about the importance of water and keeping it clean for salamanders and all amphibians.

Landscaping with Native Plants – Lauren Lampley spoke with participants on best practices for landscaping with native plants. She shared the importance of native plant landscaping for conserving water and showed participants the new native plant landscaping project she finished this summer at the Buckeye Recreation Center. The program ended with a raffle of three native plants.

Buckeye Creek Stream Survey – Participants hiked the Falls trail to do a survey on the health of Buckeye Creek through the NC Stream Watch program. Upon surveying participants found many signs of a healthy creek like: pollution-sensitive macroinvertebrates, good stream bottom coverage, healthy riffles and pools of water, and minimal trash (which participants picked up and carried out). Participants enjoyed learning what to look for to determine the health of a creek or stream and finding creek-dwelling critters.

Future water conservation programming includes stream surveys, stream clean-up, salamander searching, rain barrel workshops, summer group paddles on Buckeye Lake, and more!

Coming soon: Water Conservation mirror clings! The water conservation team is sending out free window clings with quick water conservation tips. For more information on the water intake project, water conservation events/programming, and resources please browse this website.