Phoebe Coburn - This is Our Town - July 7 by Carl Pelletier published on 2021-07-09T21:13:38Z Phoebe Coburn, Communication Specialist with the Tetn Conservation District is this week's guest on "This is Our Town" on KJAX (93.5 FM). Learn more about the Cache Creek Art project (those brightly colored signs throughout town indicating where Cache Creek runs underground) as well as the topics of draught and wildfires and what you can do to help the situation. Recently, drought has been on our mind. - We’re facing the driest soil conditions we’ve seen in about 10 years in Teton County. - A majority of the stream gage stations are either approaching or are already below record low flows for this date in the last 30 years. That means that we’re breaking low water discharge records for this time of year. Because our snowpack came off so early and so quickly, it means we’re going to have a long dry period this summer where flows will likely remain below normal. - One anecdote to think about is that the Gros Ventre River is already running clear and setting low flow records, it’s actually right about the same size as Flat Creek right now, and when you think back to 2017 right around this time year, the Gros Ventre blew out Cattleman’s Bridge! - Other actions you can take are only running your washing machine and dishwasher when they’re full and only washing clothes when you really need to, and installing a low flow shower head. - Because it’s a drought year, there’s greater risk of wildfire. We have a wildfire risk reduction program that helps homeowners take actions to reduce the risk of wildfire around their property, and we even offer funding to homeowners to take recommended actions. You can learn more about that on our website www.tetonconservation.org. CACHE CREEK PUBLIC ART PROJECT I grew up hiking and skiing up Cache Creek, but it never really occurred to me what happens to that big beautiful stream once you enter town. Where does it go? It wasn’t until I started working at the conservation district that I learned that after severe flooding in the early 70’s, Cache Creek was put into an underground tube that runs under the streets of Jackson. When we did that, we prevented future flooding, but we also lost access to a beautiful stream that ran through our town. So we wanted to bring attention to the fact that Cache Creek starts out as a relatively pristine mountain stream, and ends up as a stormwater tube. So we partnered with the Town of Jackson and Jackson Hole Public Art of a public art project. If you drive or bike or walk down Kelly Avenue or Cache Creek Drive, you’ll see these bright blue and orange emblems on the ground that signify where Cache Creek is running under the town. We hope this project gets people thinking about stormwater and potential opportunities to daylight Cache Creek. Each Wednesday morning at 8:30am a representative from the Town of Jackson or one of the organizations in Jackson joins Del Ray on KJAX (93.5 FM)to talk about important local topics that impact us all. Listen in!
