Education, Outreach, and Monitoring at Beautiful Eagle Creek at Georgia Southern University

Beautiful Eagle Creek on the campus of Georgia Southern University has been a symbol of pride and tradition since legendary football coach, Erk Russell, mentioned of its magical waters during The Eagles championship run in 1985. Historically, Eagle Creek has been envisioned as a symbolic staple of the successful program that practices near its banks, as well as inspired the name of business entities within the Statesboro community. Realistically, Eagle Creek’s near 500m stretch has remained no more than a drainage ditch with little to no aesthetic appeal, much less ecological health and biological integrity. As part of an interdisciplinary effort, the Georgia Southern University Freshwater Ecology Lab (AAS-G-2114) has been working since 2015 to transform Beautiful Eagle Creek into a venue for K-20 education, community outreach, and monitoring programs that promote environmental sustainability, as well the ecological health and integrity of freshwater ecosystems in the region. In this presentation, we’ll highlight the findings from our efforts at the creek and the progress made since registering the site with the resources of the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Program.