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Florissant, Mo., Oct. 24 – The public is invited to learn about the importance of water at Little Creek Nature Area’s First Annual Watershed Festival. It is the first of three annual festivals planned to raise public awareness about the importance of clean water.

Guests will learn about water’s many uses, its importance for our survival and the role that everyone can play in protecting this precious resource through a variety of fun, hands-on activities created with the whole family in mind.

The water adventure begins at 10 a.m. and will last until 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, at Little Creek Nature Area, located at 2295 Dunn Road in Florissant.

Guests should park on the northeast corner of the Grandview Plaza Shopping Center parking lot. Shuttles will run from this location to Little Creek every 15 minutes beginning at 9:45 a.m. and ending at 4 p.m. Parking at Little Creek is limited to those with handicapped license plates or hang tags.

Little Creek Nature Area is 96-acres of farm, prairie and forest land that is owned and operated by the Ferguson-Florissant School District. Bound by urban development, this “outdoor classroom” allows approximately 12,000 students and several thousand North County community members to explore the plants and animals found in Missouri’s natural environment.

The Watershed Festival is a free “rain or shine” event that represents an important milestone in Little Creek’s Watershed Stabilization Project. The project also includes plans to introduce a new water quality curriculum at Little Creek and in traditional classrooms in the Ferguson-Florissant School District.

The project began in June of 2007 when Little Creek received $807,000 in grant funds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 7, Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation and Little Creek Watershed Restoration Steering Committee partners to restore Little Creek to a more natural, clean environment and host community outreach events.

One highlight of the festival includes student-led tours to “Discovery Pond” – a new man-made pond – which will be formally dedicated at noon.

Besides the tours, guests will have an opportunity to learn about water’s many uses, what a watershed is and why it is important, and what can be done to minimize point and nonpoint source pollution among other topics.

Activities for children include arts and crafts, magnetic fishing, origami jumping frogs, sensory bottles, puppets, furs and live animals.

Proceeds from the hot lunches and snacks sold during the event will support McCluer High School Project Graduation. ARAMARK is providing free lunches to Little Creek volunteers.

Little Creek Watershed Steering Committee Chairperson and McCluer art teacher Jaime Scott is excited about the opportunity to extend authentic hands-on learning to the wider community through the festival. 

“We’ve worked really hard to create a fun, learning environment where people can explore and play,” Scott said.

"We hope people really enjoy themselves as they study the indoor and outdoor water sensory tables, displays and participate in various games and activities.”

Scott said a number of Watershed Steering Committee members and “environmental heavy hitters” like the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, the Missouri American Water Company and others will be on hand to explain the mystery behind how we get clean water when we turn on the faucet — a convenience she fears too many people take for granted.

“One of our goals is for people to leave with a greater appreciation of how fortunate we are to live in the confluence of three rivers and have such plentiful water sources,” Scott said.

“A lot of people don’t realize that there are severe water shortages in other parts of the country like Central Valley, California and Phoenix, Arizona,” she said. “There are limits on the amount of water people can use in these areas.”

Jack Bowles, Little Creek’s teacher-in-charge and the watershed restoration project manager hopes to open the public’s eyes to the importance of keeping our bodies of water clean.

“What happens in our watershed impacts other people both locally and beyond,” Bowles said. “Whatever is placed in Discovery Pond will evaporate into molecules that will go into one of our rivers and eventually travel around the entire planet.” 

The Little Creek Watershed Restoration Steering Committee includes the following organizations: the City of Florissant, Centocor Biologics, LLC, East-West Gateway Council of Governments, the Ferguson-Florissant School District (Little Creek Nature Area), Great Rivers Greenway District, Intuition & Logic (design engineers), the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, the Missouri American Water Co., Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation, Missouri Department of Conservation, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, North County, Inc., the Open Space Council, Saint Louis Christian College, St. Louis County Soil & Water Conservation District and the Special School District.