Gordon Terrace Children take Leadership Roll in Creek Stewardship and Win WWF Award

We look forward to the time when our own city who also tries to set an example of creek stewardship on its property is able to enforce regulations for others to do the same. 

This excerpt comes from the World Wildlife's Fund own website.

http://wwf.ca/takeaction/greencommunity_recipients.cfm.

WWF-Canada is pleased to recognize the recipients of the third-round of its Green Community School Grants Program. Chosen from over 550 applications from across the country, these 28 projects represent everything the Green CommUnity Program was looking for: reduced impact on the environment, positive solutions, leadership and inspiration for students and communities to take action. From outdoor classrooms to energy projects to rain gardens and bike projects, these grants demonstrate how we can all have a positive impact on our environment when we work together.

Thanks to the generous support of Loblaw Companies Limited, these schools will receive up to $5,000 each to complete their projects by May 2012. To date WWF-Canada has provided $300,000 in grants to 87 school groups to help lead to real long term change. We will continue to monitor and report back on these schools and their stories over the course of the next year.

British Columbia

Gordon Terrace Elementary
"Over the last 10 years, I've worked with my classes to raise awareness about the environmental stewardship of Joseph Creek," says Stewart Wilson. Wilson teaches at Gordon Terrace Elementary School, in Cranbrook, B.C., and, he says, "The creek is Cranbrook's main water source."

In the past, Wilson has taken his students on field trips to pick up garbage and remove noxious weeds from the banks of the creek. Now he wants to take the school's creek stewardship to the next level.

"We hope to involve the whole school in planting native plants in Kinsmen Park, which is in the centre of town," says Wilson. Five years ago, the concrete slabs that had lined the banks of the creek within the park were removed, but Wilson says the amount of planting that was done to replace the concrete was limited due to lack of funding.

With money from this grant, the school will be able to buy native plants. Before planting begins, though, the students will learn why they're doing it. "Returning native plants to the riparian zone in Kinsmen Park is important for the creek's health," says Wilson. "The plant cover will eventually provide a well-developed root system to stabilize the banks and reduce erosion."

Wilson plans to publicize the project in the school newsletter and local newspapers. But he hopes that the project will become its own best advertisement. "As the plants mature, they'll attract wildlife, raising awareness of what a riparian zone should be."