Creek Week and Eco-Friendly Practices in Charlotte, NC

What Is Creek Week?

The Charlotte Creek Week is an annual event of outdoor volunteer activities highlighting the importance of keeping Charlotte creeks clean. Creek week was just held from March 19-March 2 of this year and was a great success!

Junk Doctors is proud to promote Charlotte Creek Week because the many running rivers and channels in the city serve countless benefits and purposes to life and public health. As residents, we can enjoy the creeks through recreational activities like biking, hiking, fishing, and more. Unfortunately, however, people commonly dump their trash in Charlotte’s creeks, which hinders the wildlife in and around the waterways. Because of this, participants made differences in the following ways:

  • Removed over 19,000 pounds of trash from Charlotte’s waterways.
  • Created 26 rain barrels to preserve rainwater.
  • Planted 90 new trees in the floodplain to stabilize river banks and prevent flooding.
  • Deposited 1,600 live stakes for further increased tree growth.
  • Pruned 1,115 native trees to maintain the proper growth of trees.
  • Marked 26 storm drains to prevent residents from dumping their trash into the drains.

Why Creek Week?

The many outdoor activities during creek week are designed to bring residents and families closer to nature while having fun and connecting with others. Here is a list of just a few creek week events:

  • Stream cleanup with The Catawba Riverkeeper. Participants pick up littered debris to conserve stream beauty and health.
  • Live stake planting. This involves inciting new tree growth by planting tree branches.
  • Tree maintenance. Volunteers prune and straighten trees as well as correct weed mats.
A polluted Charlotte creek in need of creek cleanup services

These activities, along with many others during Charlotte creek week, help our creeks’ health progress by leaps and bounds for healthier and happier wildlife and residents. Many people fail to realize that the root of unsafe tap water is polluted streams, creeks, and rivers. By monitoring the health of our streams and ponds, we can identify issues, which helps to maintain and preserve the well-being of our waterways. In turn, this protects Charlotte public health and quality of life.

How is Keeping our Creeks Clean Beneficial?

Wildlife Benefits

  • Preserves livelihood of vital species in our environment
  • Connects ecosystems to one another for optimum biodiversity
  • Decreases dangerous flood risks that can disrupt ecosystem health

Human life Benefits

  • Improves tap water quality, in turn decreasing health risks
  • Restores outdoor recreational activities by keeping the environment clean and safe, in turn benefiting sense of community
  • Improves the aesthetic appeal of our environment

How You Can Make a Difference

There are many mindful choices the average person can make to help restore Charlotte creek life for a healthier environment. Many people think that their individual actions wouldn’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but this is a common misconception. The more that people step up to make a difference, the more we can raise awareness for our community to make more mindful choices. Here is a list of some helpful life choice options for better creek life:

  • Garbage disposal. Make sure to always dispose of your trash properly, including hefty items like furniture. Instead of leaving that old sofa on the street, connect with a dump site or junk removal service like us to take care of it.
  • Volunteer. Volunteering with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services is a great way to get involved in the Charlotte community while actively improving wildlife.
  • Pick up after others. Instead of ignoring other people’s litter on greenway strolls, take a bag with you and pick up some trash. Not only will it directly improve the ecosystem, it will make you feel like a winner.
  • Avoid using chemical fertilizers. Dangerous fluids like pesticides and fertilizers easily run off into Charlotte’s streams and waterways, disrupting wildlife.
Junk Doctors team members