Whether you grew up playing near a stream or enjoy walking alongside them to this day, you have probably seen discarded items more often than you would like. Worse than an eyesore, litter and debris can threaten aquatic life and contribute to flooding.
To keep these valued waterways clean, The City of Raleigh has an Adopt a Stream program that welcomes the community to pitch in. On Earth Day 2022, A group of more than a dozen Wooten employees spent the afternoon doing just that in Lions Park.
Raleigh makes it really easy to get involved. They provide the trash bags and gloves, we piled everything up, and the City hauled it away when we were done.
— Thomas Madre, Architectural Designer
The group removed more than 750 pounds of trash from Bridges Branch, which flows into Crabtree Creek. Among the items extracted were three shopping carts, six bicycles, three scooters, several car tires, and large quantities of trash and debris.
Near the end of our clean-up, a resident of the nearby apartments came out to personally thank us. This made the effort all the more worth it.
— James Pflaum, Project Engineer Assistant
Streams, and the corridors along them, are a natural resource to appreciate for their form and function. They provide a habitat for a complex ecosystem of plants and animals and nearby vegetation helps filter stormwater runoff, improving water quality.
Since 1936, Wooten has partnered with local leaders across the Carolinas to improve community infrastructure. These projects include drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems as well as parks, greenways, and other outdoor amenities.