Clean Water

Stream Team

Reeds Spring High School

• Stream Team #: 432
• Date formed: Sept. 20, 1993
• Location: Railey Creek, Stone County
• For more info about Stream Teams: see links listed below.

This illustrious Stream Team received the President’s Environmental Youth Award in 2008. The preceding year was a particularly good one, even by their high standards. They monitored water quality after school and on weekends, studied stream issues that affect their community and researched and designed a water-monitoring project. They traveled to Jefferson City to discuss local water quality issues with the State Legislature. All this work earned team representatives a tour of Washington, D.C., where they received their award from President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura. Team members also received high school and college credit for some of their work. “It is very challenging,” said Stream Team 432 sponsor Mike Collins. “Students learn to manage their time, solve problems that make a difference in their community, as well as develop critical thinking and organizational skills. We want to produce lifelong learners.”

EQIP Helps Clean Streams

This farm bill program offers financial and technical help.

Ranchers and farmers who are concerned about the quality of water running from their land into nearby streams can get help through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. This federal program promotes agricultural production and environmental quality by offering financial and technical assistance in dealing with challenges to water quality. Landowners can get help removing excess sediment deposited in drainage ditches by last year’s floods and handling animal waste. EQIP applications are accepted year-round. For more information, contact a regional Conservation Department office or the nearest USDA Service Center.

2009 Big-River Cleanup

The schedule is set and you can get involved!

Missouri River Relief, the Missouri Stream Team that has adopted the Missouri River, has a 2009 cleanup schedule with events from Yankton, S.D., to St. Louis. The year’s first cleanup is at the confluence of the Osage and Maries rivers March 7. Next up is the Heritage Trail in Kansas City March 21. On March 28 river cleaners will help at the Confluence Greenway Cleanup in St. Louis. April 4 is Project Blue River Rescue in Kansas City. On May 9 Missourians will join South Dakotans below the Gavin’s Point Dam. May 29 and 30 will find river-lovers in Omaha, Neb., and on June 27 Missouri River Relief returns to Sioux City, Iowa, to help with the cleanup they helped launch last year. On Aug. 22 they will help out at Operation Clean Stream on the Meramec River, and Sept. 19 is a cleanup in Jefferson City, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Missouri Stream Team program. The last event of the year is a learning/cleaning event Oct. 2 and 3 in Kansas City. Visit their web site for details and updates of all these events.