Stream Smart is an educational campaign designed to increase awareness about the choices we make and how they might impact local streams and rivers. It also serves a resource for region to highlight what local communities and organizations are doing and opportunities to get volunteer and involved in your community. Anyone can make Stream Smart choices at home to help. It can be as simple as picking up after your pet, or more complex by creating walk ways 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 the water. 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.
How did this campaign start?
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, local city and county representatives, and others teamed up in 2011 to develop a regional education and outreach strategy to increase awareness about simple, everyday behavior changes residents and businesses can adopt to improve the quality of water flowing in local creeks and rivers. In addition, to their own programs, the strategy incorporated local programs and event conducted by the Bear Creek Watershed Education Partners, OSU Extension, Bear Creek Watershed Council (now the Rogue River Watershed Council) under the Stream Smart banner.
How has this program expanded since 2011?
The Stream Smart program has grown from a Bear Creek focus to a Rogue Basin-wide campaign. The program now includes communities, agencies, and organizations from across the watershed. The partners are working on consistent messaging across the Rogue River Basin and are also coordinating these local efforts with larger efforts across the state. Individual campaigns and focus areas help to highlight our activities and priorities.
How will the program grow?
Stream Smart is a broad-based campaign that encourages people and businesses to adopt simple, yet important actions to improve our water quality and watershed health. We will continue to update and expand the Stream Smart campaign as our resources allow. If you have an idea for a pledge, or information to add to the website that will help residents and businesses improve water quality, please Contact Us. We want to know what additional Stream Smart actions you think are important.
Pledges and Contact Information
WHAT DO I GET FROM TAKING A STREAM SMART PLEDGE?
You get to feel the satisfaction of knowing that you made a difference by helping to improve water quality in your local creek! After you take a Stream Smart pledge, you will receive feedback about how much pollution you prevented from entering our local streams. You become part of Stream Smart pledge community, and your general location will be shown on an interactive map, alongside the location of other community members who also pledged to be Stream Smart.
WHO CAN I TALK TO FOR MORE INFORMATION?
For more information about Stream Smart, please email us at: info@stream-smart.com.