American River College student Kia Williams, who is majoring in environmental conservation, will lead a creek clean up for the creek on campus, Kohler Creek. Williams is seeking the help of others to participate in the restoration of the creek environment, where she will be informing participants about invasive and native plant species in the community.
On Saturday, Oct. 6, Williams will clean Kohler Creek, located behind parking lots C and D, of garbage and other potentially harmful and invasive objects. The following day, she said she hopes to distribute plants throughout the area with the help of others.
“I wanted everyone to know why we are picking these plants,” Williams said. “I will be educating and cleaning.”
Williams is studying in microbiology and marine ecology at ARC and plans to pursue a doctorate. She said she took this project when her work experience professor Jennifer Neale provided students with a list of ideas for individual projects depending on the students’ interests.
“This is a work experience class and people have internships set up at different sites,” Neale said. “[We] have a couple people working up at a site in El Dorado Hills. Another student is doing a project in Japan, so people do different things.”
The creek restoration has been an ongoing project for students in the work experience program. In previous semesters, they have removed invasive species and plants, along with cleaning the creek.
“We’ve done previous events such as Kohler Creek Restoration Week or just Earth Day, and I just wanted to recontribute back to the cause,” Williams said. “I was down there recently because I have a side project going on, and I noticed there was a lot of garbage and plants that were killing off the native plants.”
Williams said she will meet with anyone who wishes to be a part of her restoration project on Oct. 6 and 7 at 10 a.m. She said she will be bringing water and snacks and if people want to contribute, it would be greatly appreciated. If you wish to participate, Williams can be contacted at [email protected].
