What is Stream Smart?
- A voluntary education collaborative in the Rogue Basin
- A community resource for information on watershed stewardship, water quality, education, and restoration
- A hub for regional events, volunteer opportunities, and relevant contacts
Stream Smart is an educational campaign developed to increase awareness of the choices we make every day and how they impact our local streams and rivers. Simple habit or behavior changes can lead to a healthy watershed. Anyone can make Stream Smart choices at home to help — choices can be as simple as picking up after your pet, or more complex such as creating walkways and driveways with porous materials (materials that allow water to drain through), or by planting native trees by streams and rivers to provide shade and cool water temperatures. All of these actions work to help reduce water pollution and improve water quality conditions. By providing information and tools that individuals need to make Stream Smart choices, we help to empower everyone to do their part to turn our streams from brown to blue — change starts with you.
Some ways Stream Smart pursues this goal are by providing educational resources on water quality and protection, coordinating volunteer clean-ups such as Bear Creek Stewardship Day, providing youth environmental education about watershed health through Salmon Watch field trips, and shares the work of many regional partner organizations acting to protect and improve water quality and restore riparian areas.
Creation and Continuation
In 2011, local communities including the Cities of Medford, Ashland, and Central Point along with the Bear Creek Watershed Council (now the Rogue River Watershed Council), the Rogue Valley Council of Governments, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District, Rogue Valley Sewer Services, and others collaborated to develop a regional education and outreach strategy to help meet local Clean Water Act and educational goals. Since 2011, the Stream Smart program has grown from a Bear Creek focus to a Rogue Basin-wide campaign, and now includes communities, agencies, and organizations from across the watershed. These partners are working on consistent messaging across the Rogue River Basin, expanding programs to reach more communities, building on successes, and coordinating local efforts with larger ones across the state, region, and nationally.
Current coordination is provided by the Natural Resources Department at the Rogue Valley Council of Governments. Guidance is also provided by an Advisory Team that provides input on program operation that meets several times throughout the year.
Primary funding for the program comes from local communities in Jackson and Josephine Counties through their Clean Water Act Programs. Major contributors include Medford, Ashland, Central Point, Phoenix, Talent, Jacksonville, Grants Pass, and both counties. Please refer to our funders page to learn more.