A Word From the Watershed: We All Live Downstream
By Michael Calhoun, CSWCD Board Chair
You may have noticed several recently installed storm drain markers in downtown Vernonia. In an ideal world, runoff water would pass through into a city filtration system and never have direct contact with our waterways. This unfortunately is not the case for the majority of the world. Storm drains do not funnel water into the city septic system, nor have any kind of filtration. Runoff, which includes all kinds of pollution from pesticides, motor oil, and trash goes down storm drains and directly into local waterways, in our case the Nehalem River.
Vernonia prides itself on being a pocket in the woods surrounded by wildlife. Our community hosts the Salmon Festival each year, a unique event that celebrates the return of these magnificent creatures to the waters from which they were born. Let us help contribute to the betterment of our community by disposing of waste in the proper receptacles and remember that we all live downstream.
For more information contact: Upper Nehalem Watershed Council 503-396-2046, maggie@nahalem.org, and Columbia Soil & Water Conservation District 503-433-3205, information@columbiaswcd.com .