Watershed UGA

Urban watersheds represent one of the most complex and intractable environmental quandaries: overlapping jurisdictions, streets, property boundaries and buildings make it all but impossible to reclaim any relationship to a naturally existing water collection basin. Watersheds are drainage points for surface water to reach a river or other outlet and they are essential for the health of both land and water. The heart of the UGA campus sits in the midst of a watershed and, because it is a singular entity, the possibility exists of rehabilitating Tanyard Creek. If you don't know where it is, you may be standing on or near it. The university is leading an effort to uncover the stream and the clean up starts continues today at 5 pm at the Tate Parking Deck:

We might not think about it, but we interact with the Tanyard Creek watershed nearly every day on campus. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and face our impact. Join us and Watershed UGA for a laid back stream clean-up. Please bring water and wear clothes and footwear you don’t mind getting  muddy! Footwear should be waterproof and sturdy enough for steep banks. We will provide gloves. 

'Daylighting' Tanyard Creek has long been a dream of campus environmentalists [also known as faculty, students and staff], to begin to put UGA back in sync with its local environment and animate the stewardship that should be its posture. This is a great opportunity for students to understand the ground beneath them, what it does, what it needs. The more we disentangle the natural environment, help it begin to breath and exist, the better able we are to see ourselves as a part of it. Only then do we begin to see the inseparability and understand the idea that protecting it is protecting us.

Image of Tanyard Creek via.