Stewardship: My Secret Garden, choked with weeds of neglect

Three months ago I was taking my afternoon walk around the creek when I noticed two very large truck tires in the water. Just the night before a group of teens from our Environmental Studies Academy  (14 minutes into regular meeting) gave a presentation to the city: Clean Water Program - Student Public Service Announcement. The PSA the students are developing is about litter in Alhambra Creek. I’m a sucker for fresh faces embracing a proactive role in maintaining our natural environment; I emailed our city engineer working with the kids about the tires.

After having helped organize two tree plantings, two beaver festivals and one 4th of July Parade, I’ve learned free labor is a god send and the email response seemed to be just that.

From: XXXX
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 3:43 PM
To: XXX
Cc: XXX; lindajmeza@XXX
Subject: FW: Tires in creek

Mary, can you forward this request to the weekend cleanup crew and tell them to be extra careful around the dam.

Thank You

XXX

A local LDS ward was working with Friends of Alhambra Creek on a service project and they were interested in helping clear debris from the creek, tires and all. I explained where the tires were and looked forward to seeing busy hands that Saturday morning. Instead I received a terse email from the stewards of this particular stretch of the creek.

From: XXX
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 5:55 AM
To: lindajmezaXXX
Cc: XXX
Subject: Your request about the tires was forwarded to me

I have been working hard to keep them OUT of that area (they wanted to lower the dam by a foot). Please let XXX know specifically where the tires are.

XXX

Today this stretch of Alhambra Creek is overgrown, littered with debris and filled with stringy algae.

People willing to help clean the creek are discouraged from doing so because it may disturb the pond’s nocturnal inhabitants. Instead of employing a system wide solution, these stewards have dedicated their full focus and public resources on one aspect of the environment.

It’s never just about one thing, nor should it be…