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Let’s Go Creeking!

Let’s have some fun outside together! Find a local stream and go creeking. Get your feet wet as you look for bugs, fish, rocks, plants, and animals in and around the water. Below are some ideas to have fun in the water. Remember to always stay safe and to respect our natural areas.

Let your kids get lost in nature; let them decide the direction. Eventually, they will find themselves!

Have Fun and Explore

  • Do a scavenger hunt and see how many items you can find. Check out some fun Scavenger Hunt ideas from Love the Outdoors.
  • Identify the different plants and animals you see. Draw a picture of what you find and label it. Try out the iNaturalist app to help with identification.
  • Make a homemade Underwater Scope for better underwater viewing.
  • Make boats out of sticks and leaves and race them down the stream. Which one goes the fastest? Which goes the farthest?

Stay Safe in the Water

  • Supervise children near the water and keep young children within arms’ reach.
  • Check the depth of the water and be aware of sudden changes in depth.
  • Check the current of the water and stay in calmer areas.
  • Wear shoes to protect your feet from sharp objects and for to help grip on slippery rocks.

OUTSiDERS Respect Nature

As always, remember to respect nature and follow The Leave No Trace Seven Principles. While exploring near the stream it’s especially important to remember these points:

  • Use provided trash bins or take trash back home with you. Bonus points if you take a trash bag with you and help pick up litter you find in the area.
  • Feel free to carefully pick up and explore what’s in and around the creek but always put them back nicely where you found them. Instead, take a picture or do a drawing of what you find to remember it.
  • Be careful with the plants and animals you encounter to make sure that you do them no harm. It is our duty to protect our natural areas and the living beings that call them home.

Leave nothing but footprints. Take nothing but pictures. Kill nothing but time. – John Muir

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We All Live in a Shed: A Watershed

We all live in a shed. Wait! What? It’s true, but not the type of shed where grandpa stores his tools. We all live in a watershed. So what is a watershed anyway and why is it important?

What is a Watershed?

A watershed is an area of land that drains all of its water into a single output. The water from rainfall, streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands and groundwater flows downhill towards that output. Watersheds are separated by ridges, hills and mountains. Water that lands on one side of the ridge flows into one watershed and water that hits the other side flows into a different one. Typically larger watersheds are made up of many smaller watersheds.

Finding a Watershed

I live near Columbus, Ohio in the Blacklick Creek Watershed that is part of the larger Scioto River Watershed and even larger Ohio River Watershed. Let’s follow the water to see where it goes.

Ohio EPA: Big Walnut Creek Watershed within Scioto River Watershed.

There is a very small stream called French Run that runs through backyards and a park in my neighborhood. From the park, the stream flows about a mile and a half until it meets up with Blacklick Creek. From there, Blacklick Creek flows into Big Walnut Creek and then Big Walnut Creek flows into the Scioto River south of downtown Columbus.

If we continue to follow the water even further, the Scioto River continues to flow south into the Ohio River at the border of Ohio and Kentucky. Does the water stop there? No, it continues into Illinois where it meets the Mississippi River and eventually flows all the way into the Gulf of Mexico. That’s a long way from my backyard!

In the United States, you can use the USGS Watershed Map to determine the watershed where you live. Or find a map and trace the flow of the water away from your house. Where does it go?

U.S. Geological Survey: Major watershed regions in the United States.

The Importance of Knowing Your Watershed

It’s fun to map out the water’s journey and imagine all the sites it passes along the way. But it is also really important to understand your watershed and the impacts human activity can have on the water in your own backyard and miles away. By being educated, we can take action to protect our waters.

What the water encounters along its journey determines the health of the watershed. Does it pass through healthy forests? If it passes through a farm is there a buffer of green space, called a riparian buffer zone, protecting the stream or does it come straight into contact with fertilizers, pesticides and animal waste? How much of the land is paved and developed? Do factories and businesses properly treat waste or does pollution flow into the streams?

In this month’s THiNK OUTSiDE water booklet, we learned water pollution reduces water quality and makes the water toxic and dangerous to humans and animals. In fact, half of our rivers and streams and more than one-third of our lakes are polluted and unfit for swimming, fishing and drinking.

What can i do to help?

Luckily, there are a lot of people already doing great work to protect our watersheds and you can help too!

Local watershed associations have formed in many areas by concerned citizens like you to understand and protect their waters. Groups may be devoted to a very small section of land, like the Friends of Pink Quarry Park that focuses on the park in my neighborhood, or to a much larger watershed, like the Ohio River Foundation that looks after the entire Ohio River and its watershed. See if you can find a group in your area and volunteer to help!

Here are a few ways you can help protect your watershed at home:

  • Educate yourself and tell others what you’ve learned. Use the EPA How’s My Waterway? website to find your local watershed along with information on the health of your watershed and current projects underway to improve your watershed.
  • Always throw trash away and pick up litter when you see it.
  • Never dump chemicals into your lawn, onto the street or into sewers.
  • Plant native plants in your yard instead of high maintenance grass areas and paved surfaces.
  • Use the mulching feature when you mow the lawn instead of bagging.
  • Start a compost bin to dispose of yard waste and organic kitchen scraps.
  • Use a rain barrel to collect rainwater from your roof and use it on your lawn.

In order to keep our watersheds healthy, we all need to work together to protect the water both close to home and miles away. OUTSiDERs, I challenge you to find your watershed, what issues are impacting your area, and how you can help.

We are small compared to the world around us, but we can have a BiG impact!

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Water You Doing?

We are enjoying some of our favorite jokes around this month’s THiNK OUTSiDE topic – WATER! Hope you get a few laughs too!

There are two reasons why you should never drink toilet water.

Number one. And number two.

What kind of bear enjoys hanging out in the rain?

A drizzly bear.

What did the sea say to the river?

You can run, but you can’t tide.

Who carries out operations in a river?

A sturgeon.

Where do fish keep their money?

In river banks.

Why do walruses swim in salt water?

Because pepper water makes them sneeze.

Water you doing?

Just rolling with the waves.

What runs, but never walks?

Water!

What’s the definition of a fishing dock?

A surgeon on vacation.

What did the man say to the pot of hot water?

RIP, boiled water. You will be mist.

What is a shark’s favorite sandwich?

Peanut butter and jellyfish.

Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever. – Walt Disney

Water some of your favorite family-friendly water jokes? Share them in the comments below.

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Access to Clean Water: A Human Right but Not a Guarantee

An Issue Globally

Access to clean water is essential to our health and well-being. A lot of us take for granted that we will have clean water when we turn on the tap. Unfortunately, this isn’t true for many people around the world.

In this month’s empathy section of the THiNK OUTSiDE booklet, we learned that a lack of safe drinking water impacts 1 out of 9 people globally.  We learned that millions of people in developing countries must walk several hours a day to collect drinkable water.

An Issue in the United States

But lack of clean water is an issue that is closer to home than you may realize. According to research done by the US Water Alliance and DigDeep, 2 million people in the U.S. lack running water and basic indoor plumbing. Additionally, 44 million people don’t have clean water that is safe to drink.

You probably have heard of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan that started in 2014 when the city’s water was contaminated with lead. And maybe you’ve heard the story of Erin Brockovich and the fight she helped the residents of Hinkley, California win against Pacific Gas & Electric in the 1990’s over contaminated groundwater supplies. But did you know that there are still many fights going on today in the United States where citizens do not have access to clean water?

Ongoing Problems

The battle for clean water is far from over. The DigDeep Report outlines six of the ongoing cases in the United States today – Tulare County, California; Navajo Nation; Texas Colonias; Rural South; Appalachia; and Puerto Rico.

These crises most often impact vulnerable communities where proper investment in water and wastewater infrastructure has not been made. Many of those impacted are people of color, people living in rural areas, and people living below the poverty line. Lack of clean water and sanitation exacerbates the economic problems of the areas.

Some of the communities were never connected to water and wastewater systems forcing them to use well water and septic systems. Others face unreliable water and wastewater systems. In many cases the groundwater is contaminated from farm runoff, pesticides, pollutants from mining and leaking septic systems. More frequent droughts also threaten the availability of water. Septic systems often back up causing wastewater to overflow into showers, sinks, toilets and yards contaminating water and making indoor plumbing unusable.

The people of these communities are faced with using unsafe water, buying expensive bottled water, driving long distances to attain water and surviving off of as little as 2-3 gallons of water per day.

Finding Solutions

Everyone deserves access to clean water. It is a basic human right. Safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030 is goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals being implemented by the United Nations Development Programme.

Many organizations in the United States and worldwide are working on solutions to providing clean water and sanitation. It will take all of us recognizing this as a crisis, expanding funding to provide infrastructure to more communities, creating alternative solutions where traditional water and wastewater systems are not feasible, and working together as communities to help those in need.

What can i do to help?

  • Educate yourself and tell others what you’ve learned. The US Water Alliance and DigDeep websites are good places to start.
  • Try the #4Liters Challenge with DigDeep and learn what it is like to live in water poverty by using only 4 liters of water for 24 hours.
  • Use these EPA Water Conservation Tips to conserve water in your own home.
  • Hold a fundraiser for an organization working towards water security. Ask for donations for your birthday, put up a lemonade (or water?) stand, sell drawings you’ve done. Be creative. Every little bit helps!
  • Volunteer with your local watershed association working to keep your waterways clean.
  • Write to your elected officials to advocate for fair access to water for all.

We are small compared to the world around us, but we can have a BiG impact!