From the Volunteer Coordinator
By contacting my local city councilor, I was able to get a spot on the Glenpool City Council Meeting agenda for October 18, 2021. I provided a brief but fun and colorful PowerPoint presentation about the August 10 Blue Thumb fish collection on Coal Creek, which flows south to north through Glenpool, Tulsa County. I kept the presentation short, and had sent in advance the article that appeared in the August “From the Water’s Edge,” but with some minor edits. This article covered both Coal Creek and Crow Creek. I believe that with this effort I was able to communicate:
- City Council members now know that Coal Creek at Morris Park has a good diversity of fish, some of which are sensitive to pollution.
- Mowing too close to the stream is not a good practice.
- A stream’s riparian area protects the stream in many ways.
- If Glenpool residents complain about land management along the stream I will help with education.
- Blue Thumb is alive and well in Glenpool – the eyes of conservationists are upon you.
There is no doubt that the presentation I offered was the most informative and enjoyable part of the meeting. I stayed for the entire meeting, so I say this honestly. Two city council members said that they did not realize the importance of a riparian area until they read my report. Before I left, a city employee asked me to come back and talk to the new public works director and new city staff members. We did not set a time for this, but I will return.
Can I help you to prepare a presentation for your city council? I plan to return this coming spring with a Yard by Yard presentation, providing I can get on the agenda again. I am going to think positive and plan for this.
I have a goal: By October 1, 2022, I want to help six volunteers to get on their local city council agendas and offer information about stream protection. There are a variety of ways we can approach this. Please get in touch with me. There are serious conversations to be had. I look at the work that there is to be done, and by working hard at the local level we make changes happen.
The Bell will not be Unrung!
As a companion piece to the Glenpool City Council article above, a thought keeps going through my head; with the information shared at the Glenpool City Council meeting on October 18, a bell was rung – the sweet sound of the bell was basically the list of fish found in Coal Creek within the Glenpool City limits. The decision makers of the community know that there is a healthy population of fish that people care about. As growth and development move forward in this city, the stream and its inhabitants need to be considered. With relaying this important information to the City Leadership, they have been provided with baseline data.
My role as a steward of Coal Creek is, at the least, to:
- Make the City aware of how I can help with education.
- Be a watchdog for the riparian zone.
- Let the basic citizenry know how the stream is doing.
- Encourage the citizens to spend time at Coal Creek and get to know this resource.
- Monitor to keep tabs on the stream.
Having let the chemical monitoring slide during COVID, I now see that I must become reinvigorated to start testing again. Let’s all do what we can for our precious local streams.
Tilt – Little Word, Big Impact
For our remarkable autumn leaf color, you can sort of thank the summer! On the longest day of the year (summer solstice) the tilt of the earth begins to change, moving the sun on its southerly journey. The tilt causes the changes in light and temperature, and by the time autumn is here on the calendar, it may feel like summer in the middle of the day, but changes are upon us.
The leaves of our deciduous trees react to the shorter days by producing less chlorophyll, thus allowing the other colors present in the leaves to be seen. The leaves are basically entering a time of inactivity and the beautiful yellows, oranges, golds and reds are sort of a goodbye to summer and a hello to what comes next – winter.
But before winter, autumn is a time of harvest and preparation. Squirrels with their nuts, deer gaining a bit of shagginess to their coats, birds flying south, and people slicing into persimmon seeds to see if they find a fork, spoon, or knife.
Autumn is the perfect time to look at your yard and contemplate how it will function over the next few months. Leaves left on the lawn are good for the soil, and good for lots of insects and small animals. Acorns feed lots of animals. If you do not have an oak tree, you might want to plant one. If you do not have wildflowers with some seeds for the birds still available, consider establishing a wee local prairie in your yard for next year’s creatures.
Tune in next month when we look at the reason deciduous trees lose their leaves.
Cheryl Cheadle
Volunteer Coordinator
To our Monthly Monitors:
Howdy Howdy from your QA Officer,
I know we have volunteer creek monitors across the state but I don’t know all of the sites that experienced the high winds/tornados of October. Please be cautious when you go out to a creek and be sure to look above you for any broken or loose tree branches or trees. Especially on a windy day, weakened tree branches can start to fall like rain. There is a reason why these are called ‘widow makers’. Be careful as you walk to your creek, down the creek bank, even where you park your car. Your ‘normal’ monitoring spot might have a few new tree limbs or be covered in a tree. Either clear out the area or move upstream or downstream (away from the tree debris if it is directly in the way) to do your monitoring. Make comments on your datasheet if you have any of this. Be cautious out there!
Kim Shaw
Blue Thumb QA Officer
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