Stewardship
Stewardship
What do we mean by stewardship of the watershed?
Everyone can be a steward of the watershed. Stewards improve the health of their watershed. There are simple actions we can take in our homes and backyards to protect, conserve and restore our shared water resources. These are called “best practices.”
Caring + Awareness + Wise Choices and Actions = Stewardship
Stewardship requires forward thinking, having a vision for a positive future. It requires awareness about the impact we are currently having on our watershed and our Earth. Stewardship means we take a stand about what we care about and move it forward into action. So let’s get going!!
Best Practices
Things you can do in and around your home to keep the watershed healthy are called BEST PRACTICES. It’s important for all of us to do the best we can so that our beautiful St. Croix River stays beautiful and healthy! Here are some BEST PRACTICES that YOU can do!
- When washing your car do it on your lawn instead of a hard surface. This allows the soap to be filtered out by the grass and soil instead of having the soapy water run straight into the nearest waterway.
- Pick up after your pet! Pet Waste is a serious water pollution problem. Rain carries nutrients from the waste into the water. This causes excessive algae and weed growth and releases harmful bacteria into the water.
- Keep your grass clippings and leaves out of the streets. Start a compost pile in your yard or find the nearest composting site.
- Be fertilizer wise! Use a no phosphorus fertilizer and always sweep any fertilizers off your pavement and back into the lawn.
- Keep your car tuned up! Any liquid that drips from your car can run down your driveway into the waterway. Watch for leaks and always wash toward the lawn to allow filtering to happen in the yard instead of going right into the lake, stream or river.
- Turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth! This conserves buckets of this precious liquid!
- Use clean and green cleaning products. Anything going down a drain in your home ends up back in the water at some point. Cleaners that have citrus as a main ingredient are an excellent choice.
- Read the labels of all chemicals! Somewhere on the label will be a warning word such as caution, warning, danger, or poison. These words are an indication of how toxic an item might be. Choose to use those items with caution or warning as opposed to danger or poison.
