Recently JRBP staff were pleasantly surprised by an article in Biz417 magazine about Miller Engineering and its involvement in the City of Springfield’s Adopt-A-Stream Program. JRBP provides safety orientations to Adopt-A-Stream teams as part of our annual contract with the City of Springfield, and we are always excited to spotlight the efforts of local businesses working to keep our area waters free from trash.
Travis Miller, President of Miller Engineering, challenged his employees to bring him ideas for community service projects that the firm could participate in, and Structural Engineer Andy Coleman knew what he wanted to do – stream cleanups. “I don’t know where I first heard about the city’s Adopt-A-Stream program, “ said Coleman, “but I do know that I actually emailed JRBP about two years ago to find out who to contact.” Coleman, a Southwest Missouri native, grew up on area rivers and has always valued the clear flowing streams of the Ozarks, so to him Adopt-A-Stream was a perfect fit for Miller’s challenge.
Coleman stated that their Adopt-A-Stream cleanups see about 8-10 employees including spouses and children. While safety was originally a concern, Coleman soon realized that the cleanups truly were a family affair and provided a great opportunity to show his daughter, age 7, and other kids that this was something they should want to do, and how to do it safely.
Miller Engineering is responsible for a section of Galloway Creek along the Ozarks Greenway Trail to the northern edge of Sequiota Park. Coleman says the experience has been “eye opening” in terms of what they’ve found. “Plastic bags are everywhere — 90% of what we pick up. They’re stuck on every bramble and twig.” They’ve also found road signs, possibly from nearby Battlefield Avenue and even a bicycle buried in the brush. Small liquor bottles, plastic and Styrofoam cups are also usually found. But he does note progress. They also stumbled into a homeless camp, which was an “eye-opener”, according to Coleman. “On our first cleanup, we finished with some 30 bags of trash,” said Coleman. Since then, we’ve collected about a dozen bags. We’re staying on top of it, and we’re up for more.”
Besides the Adopt-A-Stream program, JRBP partners with the City of Springfield’s Enviromental Services on a variety of efforts to protect water quality. A lot goes into managing stormwater in a way that protects local waterways. In fact, the City has a Stormwater Management Plan that details how it plans to meet federal and state regulations to do just that. On a day to day basis, City staff are involved in reviewing, permitting, and inspecting development sites to ensure that practices are in place to reduce stormwater pollution from construction activities and designed with long-term stormwater controls for both flood control and water quality.
On the education front, #scoopthepoop has been a big focus along with the Clean Pavement Initiative and Yard Ethic. JRBP’s involvement includes our very popular Lawn Steward soil testing program, our rain barrel rebates and helping the city with water quality education through presentations and outreach through our e-newsletter and social media (including this blog!) Some big and exciting stormwater projects are on the horizon that will restore portions of Fassnight Creek at the Art Museum and Jordan Creek downtown, as well as “eco-tours” to help citizens understand and connect with our local watersheds.
Do you have a water pollution concern such as dumping oil in a storm drain? Your call to the Citizen Resource Center at 864-1010 will get routed to the stormwater staff to investigate. Stormwater staff are also on the lookout for pollution problems through inspections of stormwater infrastructure, water quality monitoring, and working with industries on stormwater pollution prevention. To learn more about what’s happening in the City’s Stormwater Program, visit springfieldmo.gov/stormwater.
Besides our joint efforts with Springfield Environmental Services, JRBP also partners with the cities of Nixa, Ozark and Republic, as well as Christian and Greene Counties in a number of programs and presentations to promote water quality in the Ozarks. Look for more information on these partnership in future editions of River Ramblings.
We’ll see you on the river.
Todd
