Digital Postcards

Dear Residents and Landowners of Clover Creek Watershed,

You can make a difference in the health of our watershed. I urge you to consider native plants as your first choice in landscaping your property. By doing so, you will be contributing to the larger effort to restore the watershed’s riparian areas. Restoration is key to building a healthy ecosystem for both the human and non-human residents of Clover Creek Watershed, the benefits of which are too numerous to count. Thank you for your contribution!

Best,
Bethany

Dear Residents and Landowners of Clover Creek Watershed,

Everyone in the community has the power to make Clover Creek a healthier watershed. During our experience at Clover Creek, it has been impossible for anyone to ignore the overwhelming amount of trash in and around the stream. This pollutes the environment, resulting in an unhealthy habitat for all of the organisms within the ecosystem. As a community, we need to ensure that we are disposing of our trash properly, and genuinely caring for the environment. This includes recycling whenever possible, making sure trash can lids fit tightly, and never littering. Collectively doing our part will go a long way toward restoring and maintaining our local ecosystems.

Best,
Cooper

To the Chambers-Clover Creek watershed Residents,

The Chambers-Clover Creek watershed is a water system of lakes, creeks, and streams in your area. If you are a Parkland, WA resident, you live near a branch of the watershed. For example, Parkland Prairie is a stream located just a few minutes’ walk from Pacific Lutheran University. During my time there I saw the beautiful blue green ducks swimming in the water as I collected data. I also saw the area littered with waste. Such as the white material wrapped around the tree stump, or the tarp and countless other objects on the banks pictured here. Stream

health is an important part of the entire community’s health, to human and non-human residents alike. From the big green trees to the smallest mayfly larva or the rocks embedded in the substrate, each plays a role in stream health.

You can help take care of these ecosystems that serve the community. Take a positive, active role in stream health. It is as simple as going for a walk and taking out the trash. Please, go on a walk here, take a bag and some gardening gloves to pick up trash. See the beauty and the local plants among the trash laden vegetation.

– Dannie Vashchenko

Dear Pierce County Council,

It is expected that as time goes on, the population within the Clover Creek Watershed will continue to increase, bringing not only more urbanization but more impervious surfaces and trash. Already within the watershed, in particular Parkland Prairie, there is a trash problem, with trash lining the edges and being present within the stream bed. I believe that a system should be employed to reduce this problem, such as planned weekly cleanups alongside water sources in the watershed, so that more trash can be removed to reduce the pollution that comes from it. In addition, impervious surfaces allow for toxic pollutants to get into the watershed and our water sources through runoff so I believe that in the future, Pierce County should try to incorporate more pervious surfaces as urbanized development continues. Should less pervious surfaces and more trash become present in this watershed, there will be greater observed impacts on water quality that could be detrimental and we must act before it is too late.

Dear fellow Chambers-Clover Creek Watershed residents,

Some of you may not know that you are living in the middle of a watershed that once supported a diverse population of plant and animal life. This watershed used to provide a space where salmon could spawn their eggs during the summer months, and bring new life into the world. Now, however, the water levels in the creek are drastically reduced. Salmon are now struggling to find a place to lay their eggs and, as such, their population is dropping. I am not telling you this to guilt you into finding a home for the salmon. I am telling you this because I want you to be aware of the state of our watershed. I want you to consider how our actions may have impacted the lives of other creatures that also call this place home. I hope that if we are able to do that, then we may be able to bring back what the salmon have lost, and restore our environment.

Sincerely,
Jonny Maier

Dear Clover Creek Watershed residents,

Through my time as an ENVT 350 student at PLU, I conducted multiple experiments in this watershed. Each experiment I noticed more and more trash around me. Our local Parkland Prairie was developed as public park space and has slowly become a place for garbage to collect and it harms the biodiversity there. We, as residents, need to have more care for our local watershed. I’m asking visitors of Parkland Prairie to stop littering and show more respect for our park space. I’m also asking the Pierce County Council to allocate funds in their Garbage and Recycling and their Sustainability programs for better maintenance of this area; that maintenance should include waste management and more intentional restoration efforts of native plants and creek systems.

To the residents near and around the Clover Creek watershed,

As an Eastern Washington native, I am not well versed with the dilemmas present in this area, specifically those across Pierce county. However, over time, these lands started to become my second home due to my studies at Pacific Lutheran University and that was when these injustices became bright as day. It was not until this year that I witnessed and experienced these ecological injustices first hand at Parkland Prairie. My courses, ENVT 350 included, had us walk to the prairie and undergo experiments based on various aspects of the environment. The overall gist of all of these trips was to record and observe the living organisms that call this watershed home. It is clear to see that trash and pollution flows seamlessly throughout the watershed and while that may be discouraging, the water itself is not of terrible quality. Given that it is not ideal on the levels of pH and phosphate, just to name a few, it still provides a well rounded shelter and water source for countless organisms. I write this letter in the hopes that we all become more conscious in our food choices, discarded trash locations, and open mindedness of those we share this earth with. During the Anthropocene, we must not overpower and diminish the lives of other living organisms simply because we deem ourselves as superior. Careful consideration of our lifestyles or even going down to the watershed and picking up a handful of trash does not only improve the life for these aquatic creatures, but for those in the surrounding areas as well.

Your help is greatly appreciated,
Luis Reyes

Dear Residents of Clover Creek Watershed,

It is becoming increasingly evident that pollution is infesting the watershed that our community cares for. Pollution not only affects the wildlife populations that inhabit in and around the watershed but also the overall stream health. If Pierce County residents could start picking up human trash they find and could put in place more volunteer clean up organizations we could restore the watershed to its original beauty and liveliness.

-Mary Lynn McLeod

Dear Pierce County,

Over the last semester in my Environmental Studies 350 course at PLU, I began to truly appreciate the importance and impact of community. In a time of social distancing and virtual classes, the class’ rare physical sessions were a literal and metaphorical breath of fresh air. As we conducted our data collections at the Parkland Prairie, I could not stop thinking about the negative impact that our communities have had on other communities, both human and nonhuman. PLU sits on the traditional lands of the Nisqually, Puyallup, Squaxin Island, and Steilacoom peoples, and while Indigenous tribes are all different from one another, many share similar concepts of balance and reciprocity with the Earth. Because of this, harm to the watershed directly impacts the Indigenous peoples who still live here. They live in community with the Earth, and this is an important balance from which I think we all can learn a beneficial lesson. The Euro-American ideology has silenced Indigenous voices for far too long, and it is our responsibility to center Indigenous voices in conversations about environmental justice and protection. Thus, as a community we share a duty to come together, respect our Indigenous neighbors, and listen to them as they tell and show us how use the concepts of balance and reciprocity to care for the watershed and for the Earth. Once we begin to listen, we will learn how we can operate as beneficial members of the local watersheds and improve the health and safety of both human and nonhuman communities.

In community,
Ryan Shane

Dear Clover Creek Residents,

Pollution is an issue on many people’s minds right now, and it can seem like a big problem. It is easy to lose sight of how an individual can make a difference; however, it is possible for you to make a difference right here in the watershed. When it rains, runoff is produced. Runoff picks up chemicals from cars, lawns, and more along the way, then takes those chemicals directly into the waterway. This is because paved surfaces and lawns are impermeable surfaces, so rainwater can not get to the soil and be filtered that way. One way to help prevent runoff is to replace your lawn with native plants. The water will be able to go down into the soil, which helps prevent it from having to travel across the surface and decreases the amount of chemicals it can pick up and carry with it. Plus, the native plants can offer a nice pop of color.

Thank you,
Rosey Ireson