Do you remember when our creeks and rivers used to flow? If so, we'd love to hear your stories!
We invite you to tell us about yourself, your memories of our creeks and rivers, and share photos or art related to you and your story. WMG hopes to share these stories through our website, print materials, and a future public exhibit. The submission period for this first round of stories closed on Friday, November 6, 2020. To learn more about the project, click below.
For thousands of years, the Santa Cruz River and its tributaries had stretches of year-round and seasonal flows which supported communities of Indigenous peoples, extensive wetlands, and a huge diversity of plant and animal life. But these creeks and rivers dried up due to extensive groundwater pumping, population growth, urban development, mining, and agriculture.
We know the Santa Cruz Watershed has changed, but we rarely hear stories of what the creeks and rivers looked like as they were changing, or how the community experienced these changes. We envision collecting and sharing these stories as an opportunity to expand our collective memory and current relationships with the Santa Cruz River and its tributaries. We hope that by sharing these stories, we will create new traditions of passing down stories from generation to generation in our community.
