I finally noticed how much my local creek changed in 10 years

Honestly I was driving past this creek on my delivery route last week and it hit me how different it looks now. About 10 years ago in 2015 the water was pretty clear and you could see fish around. Now it's all muddy with way less flow and barely anything living in it. I started thinking about all the new housing developments that went up upstream around 3 years ago. There's way more runoff now and less trees to filter the water. Has anyone else seen their local waterway shift like this and found anything helpful to reverse it?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessicaflores20d ago

Jumped in to say that adding native plants along the banks helped a creek near my parents' place a few years back. We got a small group together and planted deep-rooted grasses and shrubs like buttonbush and elderberry right where the runoff was coming in. It took about two seasons but the water clarity started improving and we saw minnows come back. Might be worth talking to your county's conservation office about cost sharing for a buffer zone, some of them have programs that pay for the plants and labor.

the_sam20d ago

That's awesome, love seeing real results like that.