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• Adopt-a-Stream Certification Workshop

  • When
    13 Nov 2026
  •  
    9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
  • Location
    Jim Hamilton - L.B. Owens Airport - Conference Room (1400 Jim Hamilton Blvd, Columbia, SC)

  Do you want to be a certified Adopt-a-Stream water quality monitor? You're in luck! Our Executive Director, Bailey Slice Parker, is leading a SC Adopt-a-Stream Certification Workshop that is open to the public on Friday, November 13th!

  All participants must register in advance - CLICK HERE

  What to expect: Our morning session will be in a classroom setting, we will take a brief lunch break, then we will carpool to a nearby creek for the field session. We will then return to the conference room to take our tests and become officially certified!

  What to bring: Water, lunch, and waterproof boots for the field portion of the workshop.

  SC Adopt-a-Stream (SC AAS) is led by the SC Department of Environmental Services. This free workshop will cover physical, chemical and bacterial monitoring and will offer hands-on training on how to use the monitoring equipment, collect samples, test water quality, enter data, and assess stream conditions, following the SCAAS protocols.

  Once certified, volunteer water quality monitors are encouraged to adopt a site, sample it monthly, and log their data on the statewide SC AAS databse. Join our Gills Creek Watershed Adopt-a-Stream Team, and GCWA will help provide the materials you will need.

  Our volunteers make projects like this possible, and we appreciate our community's commitment to making our watershed better!

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• Reimagining your Yard - A Better Way to Work with Water

  • When
    18 Nov 2026
  •  
    6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
  • Location
    1920 Blossom St. Columbia, SC 29205

  Register

  Join us at Blossom Plant and Produce for our third and final Reimagining Your Yard workshop! Eloy Platenberg of Front Yard Forest will explain processes of sustainable landscaping that can be applied to our own yards.

  Bring your children! We will have interactive activities including paint your own plant pots, native plants seeds and soil, and pre-made garden plans.

  This event will be capped at 20 participants so that we will have enough supplies, so please register in advance!

  Blossom Plant and Produce is donating $5 to GCWA for every Butterfly Milkweed sold!! Show your support for GCWA and Blossom by attending this event!

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• Community Work Day - Neighborhood Stormwater Greenspace Collaborative

  • When
    21 Nov 2026
  •  
    9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    1859 W Buchanan Dr. Columbia, SC 29205

  Register

  Join us for another Community Work Day at our Neighborhood Stormwater Greenspace Collaborative pilot project. We will be installing our first round of native plants and stormwater management features on Saturday, Nov 21 @ 9 AM, and we need your help! No experience required. We will provide gloves and tools, but bring your own gloves, shovel, and/or trowel if you got 'em!

  This project is part of the Neighborhood Stormwater Greenspace Collaborative, a partnership between Gills Creek, Columbia Green, and the City of Columbia to make this neighborhood greenspace a place to absorb stormwater, provide food and habitat for wildlife, and demonstrate a new approach to urban land management.

  This event is a part of the Fall/Winter Passport Challenge. Join us and collect some themed Gill the Beaver stickers!

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• Rain Garden Installation at Richland Library - Cooper

  • When
    5 Dec 2026
  •  
    9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    5317 N Trenholm Rd. Columbia, SC 29206

  Register

  Join us for a rain garden installation at Richland Library Cooper! Our amazing Rain Garden Initiative Intern, Ella Harper, is spearheading this project and needs your help to complete it. You will get to see the entire process of building a rain garden, from digging the hole to planting native plants.

  Everyone is welcome! We will have plenty to do for people of all ages and activity levels. There is no experience required, and we will provide gloves and other tools. If you have extra shovels, trowels, or rakes at home, please bring them! 

  This event is part of our Fall/Winter Passport Challenge. Show your support and take home some Fall themed Gill the Beaver stickers!

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