Winter rains caused a lot of damage in San Luis Obispo earlier this year.
“Because of the flooding that was so pervasive here and damage that was done to the creek, plus the new bridge construction and neighboring property development, this was one of the last places in the area that hasn't been developed in the area and needed to be touched,” said Joshua Carmichael, a restoration contractor.
On Saturday, volunteers planted 1,750 native plants along Prefumo Creek, ahead of the next storm season, focusing on habitat and land improvement while also trying to keep the creek clean.
“The natural world around us needs our help in a lot of ways and being able to help restore the creek is really really valuable,” said Quinn Akemon, who is a fifth year Cal Poly student.
During the pandemic Akemon got into gardening and is now majoring in plant science and is passionate about helping the environment.
“All of us are planting some California native shrubs and plants in order to help stabilize this riparian zone in the area right next to the creek,” Akemon said.
This area will soon be open to the public as a park.
Joshua Carmichael is one of the restoration contractors that was hired to create a trail and planting plan for the restoration of the creek.
“With us not having enough money in the grant budget to hire contractors to do the work and have the public come out to give them accessibility, so the community can feel involved and now come out and learn how to harvest these plants and how to look at them as valuable,” Carmichael said.
Jude Fledderman is recently retired and enjoys giving back to the community in his free time.
“It also is for a purpose that actually just supports not only ourselves in Central California but also the future for our kid and future generations because if we don't do this kind of work it won't be the same in 50 years from now,” said Fledderman.
The Prefumo Creek project will be done in the summer of 2024. If you want to join the clean up go herefor more information.
