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And the Award Goes to…Calvine High School
Calvine High School received the Creek Steward award for their study of Strawberry Creek in south Sacramento County and Elk Grove. They have conducted water quality tests, surveyed plants and animals and compared the results on two different creek stretches. One section of creek has been straightened and lined with concrete to allow development to…
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Dipping Into Creeks
An Educator’s Guide and Kitby Beth Etgen, Urban Creeks Council Vice President, Education With flowing water, wooded banks, and a variety of wildlife, local creeks are an ideal resource for learning through experiential environment-based education. Research and classroom-based studies show that students learn better, are better citizens at school, and transfer their learning to new situations better in environment-based…
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Creek Plants: Buckeye
by Bruce Swinehart One of the most obvious changes that is evident in fall is the transition many plants make. To me, the drying of the grasses to a golden brown in late summer transforms the rather monotonous contours of the foothills into a colorful representation of our Golden State. As you travel through our…
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Reaching Out to the Community
Mira Loma High School Students Introducethe Outreach Portions of the Arcade Creek Project by Lisa Kelly, Senior Manager of Outreach The Arcade Creek Project began as a result of the International Baccalaureate Program coming to Mira Loma High School. The students and their instructors began studying nearby Arcade Creek, a beautiful neighborhood waterway that runs…
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California National Guard Cleans Arcade Creek
by Alta Tura Wayne Lorentzen of the California National Guard was looking for a worthy Earth Day service project when he called me in March. I had just the place that needed a tough, well-organized group with experience in tackling hazards safely. This very needy section of Arcade Creek had not been cleaned for the…
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Horsing Around Ueda Parkway during Creek Week 2005!
By Bill Templin This year Creek Week offered a new activity, a horseback tour of the Ueda Parkway! The idea was Barbara Eggleston’s and it was a good one. What a great way to spend a beautiful Sacramento Saturday morning in spring. It had been quite a while since I had last ridden a horse,…
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Red-Shouldered Hawk
by Bruce Swinehart Wow! What is that noise? This is a comment often made by people hearing the shriek of the Red-shouldered Hawk. This bird is often heard long before it is seen sitting inside the branches of a tall tree rather than out near the edge. The shrill call is often described as “kee-yoo”.…
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Mission Accomplished!
By Alta Tura In the weeks and days leading up to the yearly clean-up of Sacramento County’s creeks, planners worried a bit about the weather. Nothing can squelch a creek clean-up more thoroughly than a heavy rainstorm. So the sunny and mild spring conditions on the day of the clean-up were very welcome. Not too…
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Promoting Environmental Stewardship
by Frank Wallace For the past 15 years, the Urban Creeks Council-Sacramento has conducted the popular Creek Week program. Young people, their families, local businesses, government agencies, environmental organizations, neighborhood groups – and many more – have all been enthusiastic supporters of this event. While cleaning creeks is our immediate objective, the Creek Week program…
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Ithuriel’s Spear (Triteleia laxa)
by Frank Wallace Ithuriel’s spear grows 1-2 feet in height and produces 8-20 lovely funnel-shaped violet-blue flowers on its leafless stem. This plant blooms in profuse clusters in early spring along many of Sacramento’s urban creeks and along the bluffs overlooking Lake Natoma. Ithuriel, from Milton’s Paradise Lost, was one of the angels appointed to…