Walk the Watershed 2011 took place yesterday at Swan Canyon, part of the Pueblo Watershed in San Diego, Ca. Students from the Elementary Institute of Science, Ocean Discovery, and Outside the Lens lead the community on tours through Swan Canyon explaining what a watershed is and the importance of keeping our watersheds healthy. So what is a watershed? A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place, for Swan Canyon going into the San Day Bay and Pacific Ocean. After students lead the tours, students and community members participated in watershed restoration, removing non-native plants, planting native plants, and removing trash from the Canyon. Canyon trails were made to help with soil erosion and over a thousand pounds of trash was removed from the Canyon. At the end of the restoration everyone enjoyed food and word from the neighboring district councilman, Councilman Tony Young.
This is the third year the event has taken place and each year the numbers attending rises and the watershed continues to prosper in health. This year we noticed an increase in youth participants, which was reassuring that some of our efforts to educate and get the youth more involved with their environment is working. As I continue to partner on the event I hope to continue to see the youth evolvement grow as well as the Canyons health. To find out more about the event you can visit sdcoastkeeper.org.
