call to action
If you care about your community and its natural resources…
If you like to experience the outdoors…
If you care about wildlife and native habitats…
If you want your environment and community to be better for those who follow…
…..please become involved! Please voice your concern about the water and environmental quality of the Papillion Creek streams to policy makers. Encourage others to do so as well. And actively observe the practices that will help to clean-up the water. Following are some ways you can get involved.
• Fill-out the Papillion Creek Watershed Questionnaire. Your input will help us to assess awareness and knowledge of water quality in the Papillion Creek system and to better focus water quality information and educational efforts for maximum effectiveness. Please print your completed questionnaire and mail it back to:
Papillion Creek Watershed Project
13005 South 33rd Circle
Bellevue, NE 68123
• Need a speaker? Dr. Marian Maas is available to speak to your group about the Papillion Creek system, water quality, and the things that we can do to improve it. Contact: mmaas@papillioncreek.org
• Papillion Creek Watershed Project Booth at Fairs and Festivals. Please visit the booth and have questions answered at Omaha Earth Day (April 22), LaVista Days (June 1-4), Papillion Days (June 15-18), Bennington Daze (June 17), Sarpy County Fair (August 2-6), Washington County Fair (August 11-16), Rockcreek Village Health Day (tentative), River City Round-Up (September 27-October 1).
• Contact Your Local City Councilman, County Commissioner, Papio-Missouri River NRD Representative/NRD Staff, or State Legislator. Inform them of your concerns about water quality in the Papillion Creek, and your support for usage of “green” parking lots, etc. to slow down and reduce pollutants in stormwater, accessibility to the streams, and restoration of stream habitat. Ask for their commitment for improvements. See Links for contact information for officials.
• Contact the City of Omaha Planning Department. Request planning and retrofitting that will utilize stormwater and “green” best management practices that will improve water quality. Request public accessibility to the streams themselves and native seedings of grasses and forbs on streambanks and adjoining areas for green, publicly accessible settings. Contact City Planning Department, 402-444-5150 or 444-3426.
• Contact the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District. Voice your concerns and suggestions with the watershed managers at the NRD. Public input is vital to bringing to fruition an environmental, water quality and public access oriented approach to the management of the Papillion Creek system. Contact: www.papionrd.org or 402-444-6222
• Papillion Creek Watershed Users Group. Inviting all walkers, joggers, bicyclists, nature and outdoor enthusiasts—who would like to see better water quality and a better outdoor experience along the Papio—to contact www.papillioncreek.org. This organization is being formed to bring like-minded folks together for community action.
• Organize Stream Clean-Up Days. Trash, garbage, tires, rubble and other discarded items end up in our streams. Organize your local neighborhood association, church group, civic organization, Girls/Boys Clubs, Scouts/Eagle Scout or 4-H youth group for a clean-up day on your near-by stream. Contact: www.papillioncreek.org, www.keepomahabeautiful.org, or www.papiopartnership.org
• River of Words Youth Poetry and Art Contest. An invitation for children and youth! Each year, in affiliation with The Library of Congress Center for the Book, River of Words conducts a free international poetry and art contest for children aged 5 to 19 in grades K-12 on the theme of watersheds. The contest is designed to help youth explore the natural and cultural history of the place they live and to express what they discover through poetry and art. For more information visit www.riverofwords.org. If you live in the Papillion Creek Watershed, please send entries to mmaas@papillioncreek.org for local recognition.
• Storm Drain Stenciling. Permanent stenciling of storm drains reminds citizens not to dump discarded paints, oil, pesticides, household chemicals into the storm drain. Organize your local group or use as an Eagle Scout project. Contact: www.papillioncreek.org or www.keepomahabeautiful.org
• Neighborhood Native Plantings. Meet with your neighbors and install a rain garden in a neighborhood empty lot or shared green space wherever rainwater collects. Replant shared grassy areas with native grasses and wildflowers which require less water and less fertilizer than traditional Kentucky bluegrass.
• PTAs and Church Groups. Look for ways to reduce stormwater runoff from your school or church yards. Replace hard-surfaced or bluegrass areas with native plantings. Native grasses and wildflowers are attractive and need far less fertilizer, herbicides, maintenance, and water than the more traditional lawn and yard treatments.
• Utilize the Douglas-Sarpy County UNL Cooperative Extension Service. The office has landscaping experts, Master Gardeners, and educational information to help with installation of rain gardens, bioswales and retention cells, and native plantings. Contact 403-444-7804
• Stores and Businesses. Please set aside time each day to pick-up trash around your business and see that the garbage bin area is free of litter. Trash finds its way to the stream.
• Commercial and Industry. Please check to ensure that all effluents and runoff are properly channeled to the city’s sewer system. Eliminate any direct connections to a stream.
• Property Owners with a Ditch or Stream on Your Property. Both rural and urban land owners need to establish a buffer strip between the stream and the rest of the property. This helps to slow down runoff and filters fertilizers, pesticides and bacteria from entering the stream. Information for cost-share in the installation of a buffer strip is obtainable from the county Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office. Contact: 402-896-0121
• Farmsteads and Homeowners in the Country. Check your septic systems for proper functioning. Inadequate sewage treatment results in bacterial leakage and drainage to nearby streams. Check into low-interest state or federal loans for septic system replacements.
• Livestock and Ag Producers. See the NRCS office for information on cost-share programs for livestock and farming best management practices to control bacteria, nutrient, and herbicide runoff.
