To have an even greater impact in 2017, we ask that you support Partners for Clean Streams and our efforts toward clean, clear, and safe waterways. All donations, large or small, have an impact. Our grant funding has been significantly reduced recently and with the change in political leadership coming next year, we’re uncertain of the support we will be able to secure from government grants. Your donation is more critical now than ever to ensure we can sustain our efforts into next year and beyond.
In this season of giving, consider giving back to your rivers as they provide us with so much. The Maumee River, Swan Creek, Ottawa River, Lake Erie, and all the small streams in between provide our community with drinking water, recreation opportunities, economic prosperity, and so much more. It is our responsibility to protect and preserve all the wonderful gifts our rivers offer. We, at Partners for Clean Streams, take this responsibility very seriously and work tirelessly to do our very best in our local community. However, we cannot do it alone.
We rely on our volunteers for their time and our generous donors to ensure that our programs are sustainable in future years. We hope that you become a Partner for clean streams today! To learn more about our memberships and to donate, go to our website.
Thank you for your support in 2016! Help us reach our year-end goal by donating today!
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It’s fall in northwest Ohio, and if you’re a homeowner, you have most likely thought about what you will do with all the leaves appearing on your lawn. Some of you may already have a plan for your leaves this fall – rake them, bag them, mulch them, compost them, or just simply leave them! All of which are good options, but we are here to help you make the right decision for your home and make the connection between leaves and clean water. Many of us remember raking leaves as a kid, and then jumping into the piles, only to have to rake them all again. However, raking leaves is more than just fun and games. If you do not like having leaves on your lawn, consider using the leaves as compost for next year’s flowerbeds, around your trees, or in your garden. Once spread on gardens or flowerbeds, the leaves will begin to decompose and release nutrients back into the soil, naturally fertilizing them for next spring. If you don’t want to compost your leaves and instead want to pile them on the curb, think about your nearest storm drain. Similar to how the leaves decompose and release nutrients when left in the yard, leaves will also do this if left on the curb to eventually wash down to the nearest storm drain, stream, or ditch to enter the water system untreated. If thousands of leaves are entering the drains this fall, a large amount of excess nutrients is also entering the system, impacting the quality of our water. Leaves can also clog storm drains, resulting in potential flooding during rain events.
If you are going to pile the leaves on the curb, we ask that you think about two things before you do so: 1) distance to nearest storm drain and 2) next scheduled pickup date through your waste management provider. Pile the leaves on your easement, instead of directly on the pavement or curb. Also, check your local waste management to see when the next scheduled pickup for yard waste is so that you can plan to pile leaves around then. Some providers recommend putting leaves in a bag, which contains them much better than an open pile. However, some bags are not biodegradable while the leaves inside are. Check with your local waste provider to see what they prefer. The simplest option for handling your leaves this fall is to simply leave them where they lie. The leaves release nutrients back into the soil, create a natural cover for plants to winter over, and block weeds from sprouting early in the spring. However you wish to handle your leaves this fall, please remember to do so responsibly and properly. And use what Mother Nature has given us, free fertilizer for our gardens!
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November 29th, 2016 will be known nationally as #GivingTuesday, and on this day, your donation to Partners for Clean Streams is matched by the Toledo Community Foundation and The Toledo Blade. That’s right! Donations on #GivingTuesday will be matched one-to-one, creating an instant return on your investment and making your generous gift stretch even further. What exactly is #GivingTuesday you might ask? Well, we’ve all heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but #GivingTuesday is a new concept for most of the world but one that is quickly gaining recognition. In fact, this year marks the fifth Annual #GivingTuesday. It is a day for you, and others in the community, to give back to a cause they truly believe in. What better cause to invest in than clean water! Partners for Clean Streams asks you to donate to help us educate kids and adults alike, hold volunteer stream cleanup events, and engage stakeholders in large scale restoration projects to improve the waterways of the greater Toledo area. Here at PCS, we depend on donations from people like you to help us stay afloat and sustain the programs that have such positive impact on our rivers. Through #GivingTuesday, we are raising money to ensure fishable and swimmable streams, rivers, and lakes for generations to come. This is the best time to make your first contribution to us, to make your usual yearly contribution to PCS, or to pay your membership dues. Donations to Partners for Clean Streams can be made on November 29th by going to our website or by mailing in your donation. #GivingTuesday is on our calendar. Is it on yours?
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You’re invited to the Maumee Area of Concern (AOC) Summit on December 8th, from 9:30 to 12:30 at the Ohio EPA Northwest District Offices, 347 N. Dunbridge Rd Bowling Green OH 43402. During the Summit, we will discuss recent projects and updates around the Area of Concern. We will also hear from our other Partners who are actively making strides towards improving many of the impairments impacting wildlife, habitat, and water quality of the lower Maumee River and its direct tributaries. Future work within the AOC that still remains will also be discussed. Please consider joining us on December 8th to share your thoughts, concerns, and ideas regarding the AOC and the future of our rivers here in our community and beyond. If you want to get more involved with the Maumee Area of Concern Advisory Committee (MAAC), go to their website to learn more and to find the application to become a member of the MAAC.
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Each year, we like to take the time to recognize and celebrate the past year’s accomplishments during our Annual General Meeting & Reception. Join us this year on Thursday, November 17th at the W.W. Knight Nature Preserve, in the Hankison Great Room located in Perrysburg from 6:00 to 8:00pm. The celebration will begin with dinner, a review of the year’s programs, and the Awards Ceremony featuring the Clean Your Streams Challenge Award winners and the Clean Streams Partner Award. Then we will elect the newest members of the Board of Directors for the upcoming year. Attending the AGM is a great opportunity to learn more about PCS, our programs, and to celebrate clean, clear, and safe rivers. Most importantly, we recognize our Partners in the community (like you!). RSVPs are requested so please contact our office at (419) 874-0727 or [email protected] if you and/or a guest would like to attend. There is no cost to attend – although we will be accepting donations prior to and during the event. We look forward to seeing you on November 17th! Please share our invitation with your colleagues, family, or others interested in attending!
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Join us for the Annual General Meeting on Thursday, November 17th as we celebrate the success of 2016. The event will be held in the Hankison Great Room at the W.W. Knight Nature Preserve in Perrysburg, and will go from 6:00 to 8:00pm. Following dinner, there will be a presentation highlighting the work done this year and a sneak preview into next year’s plans. We will congratulate Clean Your Streams Challenge Award winners and present the first place winners with their certificates and plaques. We will also present the Clean Streams Partner Award, a prestigious award given to an outstanding member of the community who has shown laudable effort in protecting our local waterways. There will also be a Silent Auction of art pieces and other valuable items. For the business portion of the meeting, we will elect next year’s board members. If you are interested in becoming a board member, please contact PCS as soon as possible. We would love to have you join the team. The evening will be filled with food, celebration of the work on our rivers, our dedicated volunteers, and plans to support rivers in the future. Watch your mailbox for an invitation. Please RSVP by contacting PCS at 419-874-0727 or [email protected]. We look forward to seeing you there!
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One of our main goals at PCS is to remove trash from local streams and rivers. Even though volunteers remove tons of trash every year during Clean Your Streams, trash accumulates quickly in our waterways. Unfortunately, this reoccurring problem is more widespread than Toledo. Marine debris, or trash in waterways, is an issue around the world. However, there are actions we can take to prevent trash from reaching the waterways and PCS is working to initiate those actions year round.
Consider registering a group for a Clean Your Streams 365 cleanup this fall! CYS 365 is one of our annual programs and is an extension to Clean Your Streams that occurs every September. When signing up for a CYS 365 cleanup, volunteer groups schedule their own private cleanup at a location we suggest based on need. All that is left for them to do after scheduling is to receive safety /cleaning protocol from a PCS staff member and to pick up supplies. It’s that simple! Groups can even adopt a location that frequently experiences littering to make sure that trash doesn’t continue traveling throughout our watershed. For more information about CYS 365 and to register a group, check out our website. Be an advocate for clean streams all-year round!
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Congratulations to the Challenge Winners for the 20th Annual Clean Your Streams Day! These self-reported challenges encourage friendly competition between volunteer groups while inspiring them to have the largest positive impact possible on our streams. This year, the Challenges were a little different than in years past. We awarded winners for both youth and collegiate groups in the following categories: Most Volunteers, Battle of the Bags, and Awesome Effort. We also awarded River Partner Certifications to corporate and organization groups based on the number of volunteers they brought with them on Clean Your Streams Day. Lastly, we recognized CYS Champions, or groups that have volunteered with or supported us over the past 20 years of Clean Your Streams. See the list of CYS Champions here. And check out the official list of our challenge winners and River Partners on our website!
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In the week leading up to Clean Your Streams, the weather forecast was less than ideal. But the rain didn’t stop our volunteers from cleaning! Thanks to all 960 of them, we have now completed 20 years of Clean Your Streams! The PCS staff and CYS planning team are incredibly happy with the results of the 20th Annual Clean Your Streams Day, which would have been unreachable without the hard work and support of everyone involved. As a part of Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, 960 volunteers left from 8 different kickoff locations and spread out to 67 cleanup sites across the greater Toledo area. During the three hour cleanup, volunteers removed trash from 31.1 miles of stream bank along Swan Creek, the Ottawa River, the Maumee River, and other creeks and ditches flowing into Maumee Bay and Lake Erie. 26,136 pounds of trash was collected, including 730 bags, 311 tires, and many other large pieces of garbage!
The list of trash items found is long and interesting, as always. Volunteers found the typical items like plastic water bottles, food wrappers, and grocery bags. Other, more unique, items found include a baby stroller, $20 bill, skateboard, several mattresses, a car exhaust pipe, a hot tub lid, and a drawer full of socks. We even encouraged volunteers to participate in the CYS 20 “Trash-ure Hunt” to see if they could find some of the most bizarre items founds in that last 20 years. Once volunteers were done pulling trash out of the rivers, we celebrated cleaner, clearer, and safer waters during the Appreciation Picnic at the Lucas County Fairgrounds. There, volunteers were thanked with a hot lunch, CYS t-shirt, educational activities from partnering orgainzations like Metroparks and Lucas Soil & Water Conservation District, door prizes, raffle prizes, music and entertainment courtesy of Denny Schaffer and Q105.5, and the awarding of CYS challenge winners.
Everyone who volunteered for this year’s Clean Your Streams Day is a Partner for clean streams and we are so grateful for your support. Whether you participated individually or with a group, business, or organization, your involvement is essential for cleaner rivers now and in the future. Please send us your pictures from Clean Your Streams. You can email your pictures to [email protected], post them to our Facebook page, or share them with us on Twitter and Instagram using the hash tag #CleanYourStreams419. Check out the online photo album of pictures we have so far! You can also still support future Clean Your Streams efforts by donating to Partners for Clean Streams’ GoFundMe page or directly on our website.
A tremendous thank you goes out to the CYS 20 Planning Team, which includes Marilyn DuFour, Patrick Lawrence, Brian Miller, Bob Neubert, Tim Niederkorn, Matt Beil, Robin Parker, Andrea Beard, Don Nelson, Bill Buri, Paige Sloma, Kristin Jenkins, Shawn Reinhart, Eileen Mitchell, Cherie Blair, Terry Shankland, and the PCS Staff. Thank you again to our extremely supportive donors. See the complete list of donors on our website. We hope you join us again in 2017 for the 21st Annual Clean Your Streams!
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Photo: NOAANew to our website is a page dedicated to marine debris awareness and prevention! You can find this new information on our Clean Your Streams page, under Marine Debris 101. Here you will learn what marine debris is, where it comes from, what PCS is doing about it, and how you can help. There is also a section for additional resources as this is a hot topic among many other organizations. Clean Your Streams is not only about cleaning up the trash that already exists in our waterways but also preventing trash from reaching them in the first place. Our intention is for this educational website to be a new tool for you to help prevent marine debris.
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