by Lisa Wallace, Executive Director
I want more depth in my life. Do you, too?
Maybe it’s because we’re drowning in trivia — a tsunami of texts, tweets, IMs, Gchats; Facebook posts and bookmarked websites we’re compelled to surf; Google searches to answer the endless tide of questions that pop into our minds.
The antidote is depth. We don’t need the seas and oceans of information that don’t lead anywhere…What we need instead is more wisdom and discernment — less quantity, higher quality; less breadth… more depth.
Adopt-A-Stream is just that – depth of experience, knowledge, and insight about our local creeks and streams. Four times a year, May – September, you visit your adopted stream for a few hours to understand its health and habitat. You learn the riffles and the pools, you measure water temperature and clarity, you figure out what bugs are living in the stream. You experience how the stream changes year to year, how the willows reaching over the water cool the temperature, how the fish like that cooler water. You have the depth to understand, “This is why riparian vegetation is so important…”
In the winter, you come to “lab” night and learn which macroinvertebrates (water bugs) live in the stream. How the different species and their population indicate health or illness. “Oh, yes, this is why this creek has so many fish – their food, the marcoinvertabrates, are healthy here.”
Adopt A Stream is the exact opposite of Twitter and doesn’t offer that instant gratification. Instead, Adopt A Stream is focus, practice, and commitment to the Truckee River watershed in the midst of infinite distractions.
I invite you to join Erin Casey and Beth Christman for Adopt A Stream and find some of that depth experience that is nourishing and lasting – the antidote to trivia.
Photo: Truckee River Watershed Council