Nature At The Confluence Stream Team

Stream Team programs empowers you to be part of restoring and protecting our local waters and regional watershed.  

We invite you to be part of the Stream Team!

Stream Team programs will offer a fun and rewarding way to protect and improve local streams, rivers and our watershed. All ages and backgrounds can get involved and we welcome any level of involvement you choose to take. Perhaps you’d like to attend a free workshop or class and learn more about what you can do to protect our water resources, maybe you’d like to work at a clean up day. Many Stream Team events are free and open to everyone. You can participate individually, or bring your family, friends or members of your community group.

The Stream Team initiative is supported by grants and donations from Illinois American Water, Colonel Robert H. Morse Foundation, and Allied Games.

What Does The Stream Team  Work To Protect?

These rivers and streams are part of the  Mississippi and Rock River Watershed.

• Turtle Creek – flows from Wisconsin into the Rock River right at NATC property.
• Kelley Creek – This is a buried creek that daylights right on NATC property and flows into the Rock River. Nothing is known about Kelly Creek’s origin as it is completely covered by the City of South Beloit and its water quality has never been assessed.
• Rock River – We are located at the halfway point along this 320 mile National Water Trail.

Stream Team Programs

These programs form the foundation for sustainable programming at NATC. Please see below for complete schedule of programs.

1. Citizen Science Stream Monitoring Programs – Youth and Adult programs
2. Stormwater Stewards – Rain Barrel & Container Gardening Programs
3. Watershed Education – Watershed Interpretive Signage.
4. Invasives Removal & Creek Clean Up – Kelley Creek bank restoration, Turtle Creek cleanup
5. Macroinvertebrate Study & Monitoring – on Turtle Creek, Kelley Creek
6. Educator Workshop: Project Wet – introduces watershed curriculum to surrounding schools

Stream Team Program Objectives

• Obtain baseline water quality data for Kelly Creek and Turtle Creek.
• Galvanize community involvement and reconnect people to their river and streams.
• Educate and engage youth and adults in taking ownership and interest in clean water, and community revitalization.
• Develop a corps of volunteers that will help NATC sustain programming and development of Nature At The Confluence.
• Improve access to Kelly Creek, improve its shoreline and learn more about its water quality.
• Develop a corps of stream stewards ensuring not only the collection of needed water quality data but also enable volunteers to become advocates for sustainable watershed management.
• Educate the community about watershed issues and how they can make a positive impact.
• Educate the community about storm water and how they can make a positive impact.
• Educate the community about container gardening and rain barrels and how they can reduce water usage.
• Equip educators to better engage their students in learning about water quality and watershed issues.

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Stream Team Progams