Rebecca Staebler stands on the bank of China Creek during a dedication ceremony off of Little Hanaford Road in May 2019.
Andrew Elam shows the meeting atendees the various catch basins that empty into China Creek.
Andrew Elam leads the Centralia Stream Team meeting and talks about upcoming projects.
The Centralia Stream Team held its first meeting in five years on Monday Jan. 13 with the goal of informing volunteers on top-priority projects and to keep people up to date on happenings regarding the local streams and creeks.
The meeting was led by Andrew Elam, from the City of Centralia’s stormwater department. The Centralia Stream Team is a volunteer-based group that was established in 2009 by Kim Ashmore, current Public Works director for the City of Centralia.
Attendance was low at the meeting and Elam said that they are in the stages of building the team back up since it has been five years since the Stream Team has been active. Elam said that in addition to getting the word out to community they could reach out to local high schools, whose students usually need to complete a certain number of community service hours in order to graduate, to help out with some of the creek clean up.
“They (state Department of Ecology) want everybody to know that everything that goes into the drain goes into a creek without, usually, any treatment,” said Elam.
Elam said that when Centralia hit 10,000 people in population size, the city was issued a stormwater permit by Ecology. The permit requires education and outreach within the city regarding stormwater in the area. The Centralia Stream Team is considered part of that education and outreach.
Projects include trash pickup, replacing missing markers on the catch basin which advise against dumping in the creek and planting trees along creeks. Elam showed a photo that depicted a significant amount of trash in China Creek.
One of the goals of education and outreach set by the Ecology is to “build general awareness about methods to address and reduce impacts from stormwater runoff; Effect behavior change to reduce or eliminate behaviors and practices that cause or contribute to adverse stormwater impacts; and create stewardship opportunities that encourages community engagement in addressing the impacts from stormwater runoff.”
“I’m trying to get us back up to where we were five years ago. We’re going to focus on trash pickups, going around and adding markers, and invasive species control,” said Elam.
The blackberry bushes that grow all along China Creek are considered an invasive species and must be removed.
“We focus on China Creek because the majority of Centralia stormwater goes directly into the creek,” said Elam as he showed a map depicting the many catch basins that empty into China Creek.
The meetings were set to take place every second Wednesday of each month making the next meeting of the Centralia Stream Team on Feb. 12, 2020 at 6 p.m. at 1100 North Tower Avenue.
Elam encouraged anyone who wants to help improve the health of the communities’ creeks to consider volunteering some of their time and to attend the next meeting.
