In September 1988, when I was an environmental writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspector and I walked along Clear Creek, which runs through the east side of Piedmont Park.
What we saw horrified us. When it rained, millions of gallons of untreated sewage gushed into the creek from a sewer overflow. Toilet paper lined the creek's banks; methane gas from rotting sewage bubbled in the water.
The section of the park through which the stream ran also was hopelessly smothered in impenetrable kudzu tangles -- a scene more reminiscent of a Third World country than the premier park of a thriving city.
Embarrassed by the situation, a group of Midtown residents, activists and others formed the Piedmont Park Conservancy in 1989 to rescue the park and help the city enhance and maintain it. Their dedication has paid off.
The Clear Creek area is no longer a blight. A 35-acre swath -- part of a 53-acre park expansion -- has been transformed from shameful eyesore to one of the city’s showoff assets, as I discovered recently during a stroll on one of the new trails through the restored area. Walking with me were Chris Nelson, the park’s executive vice president, and Mary Moerlins, the education program manager.
I was amazed by the changes compared with what I saw 24 years ago. The kudzu is gone. “This represents years of hard work,” Nelson said.
Clear Creek, a tributary of the Chattahoochee River, is running cleaner than it has in decades. Its cleanup is part of the city’s massive, $4 billion Clean Water Atlanta initiative to “create the cleanest urban streams and rivers in the country.”
Nelson pointed out that the conservancy has removed concrete culverts and rerouted the creek into a meandering pattern that more resembles a natural stream. The meanders help reduce flooding and erosion, and they improve water quality. Some fish have returned to the creek, Nelson said. Standing on a hillside overlooking the creek, we watched mallard ducks swim and dabble in the water.
One of the park’s other remarkable restorations is a 3.4-acre marshy wetland that can be seen from a new boardwalk. While removing kudzu and assorted junk from the wetland, workers unearthed six springs that form Clear Creek's headwaters. Hence, the feature’s name -- Six Springs Wetland. A variety of native trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers -- typical of species found in wetlands in Georgia’s Piedmont region -- have been planted there, creating badly needed wildlife habitat. It’s probably only a matter of time before a variety of birds, butterflies, frogs, salamanders and other creatures move in.
In the sky: The moon will be full Friday -- the "Flower Moon," as the Cherokee peoples called April's full moon, said David Dundee, an astronomer at the Tellus Science Museum. Mercury is low in the east just before dawn. Venus, shining brightly, and Jupiter are in the west at dusk and set about two hours later. Mars rises out of the east just after dark and will appear near the moon Tuesday night. Saturn rises out of the east about midnight.
