Wondrous Wanderings

Fellow environmentalists!
This past week I took a walk down the Creek and found out so much more about it that I'd like to share with you!
First and foremost, the Creek is an extremely diverse river. Even walking barely 100 feet of its length can show you just how much it is so.
First of all, some areas have rather extended cascades downwards

 

and others have small waterfalls.

 Different regions have very diverse sources

 

and many diverse plant species along their riversides, some of which were even labelled! (Perhaps they were planted by Decal students in the past? Does anyone know?)

Other areas of the Creek even went underground!

 Some locales had water so still and clear that you could see all the way down to the bottom,

while other locations seemed to have a strange transparent film over them, which perhaps indicated a spill? This is actually quite a concern for the health of the Creek.

In other places still the water stood murky and was impossible to see into. How could flora and fauna flourish in such an environment?

Walking further along I discovered that the Creek even seemed to switch the direction of its flow!

At yet other places in the stream the water flowed quite weakly while at ones farther down it was interrupted and quickened by rocks and other debris that had landed in the river.
 

I also got to feel a bit of nostalgia as I passed by the place where the Decal and I helped remove invasives last week.

There were also some man-made constructions in the river designed to help regulate it.

Sadly where there were more people there was more grime and trash in the river, when in fact it should be cleaner in the areas where there are more concerned citizens.

 Overall however, all this goes to show is that the Creek is a gorgeous place that needs to be protected and maintained. Here's to some new restoration events this week! Until next week!
-Larisa Ilchenko