Our Watershed Valentine: Love Your Watershed

By Phaela Peck

This year, send a valentine to your watershed! Well, not a real valentine, but a message of appreciation to where you live! In the Bay Area, we all live in one large watershed, the San Francisco Bay watershed, but we also live in many smaller watersheds that drain into local creeks. The water in these creeks eventually makes its way to the Bay. Keeping these watersheds healthy is critical to the health of the whole Bay! To celebrate our watersheds, big and small, here are 10 ideas for things you can do to show your love for your watershed.

1. Find out what watershed you live in and identify your local creek. Research whether there is an organization that is working to restore or protect that creek. Join that organization for a volunteer workday or offer a monetary donation.
2. Do something fun outside in your watershed. Choose to go on a Valentine’s Day hike or watershed excursion. This is good for your health and your watershed!
3. Make The Watershed Project’s bioswale planting on February 16th a part of your Friday plan, or join us every Second Saturday of the month on the Richmond Greenway.

4. Did you know that the most common items we find on our Bay Area beaches are related to water bottles and food packaging (including bottle caps and straws)? Help the serious marine debris situation by using a reusable water bottle or coffee mug when you stop for your latte.
5. When you go out for Valentine’s Day, choose to dine in at a restaurant rather than get take out. Your watershed will appreciate the packaging you save. If you really want to show your love for your watershed, keep tupperware in your car and use your own tupperware containers for leftovers.
6. Look around your property for any places where you might unknowingly be polluting your watershed. Make a pledge to pick up litter around your house.
7. Take an audit of your waste. Is there anything you could be recycling or composting or reusing or reducing? All of those actions help your watershed.
8. Choose to wash your car in an official car washing facility where the dirty water is collected and does not go into the watershed. Your watershed will appreciate this so much!
9. Find out about an animal or plant that lives in your watershed. Share what you learn with someone. Maybe you can even figure out a place to observe this organism!
10. Make Valentine’s Day cards with reused materials. This is an excellent way to participate in a fun craft activity without generating any new waste.