College Creek is showing the ills of urban development and agriculture - extra sediment, collapsing stream banks and fallen trees. But nearby neighbors and the community are invited to find out about streambed improvements planned for the creek in the next three years.
      
An open house to provide project information about improvements to College Creek in west Ames will be Monday, May 19, at the Daley Park shelter, 340 Wilder Boulevard. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a presentation at 6 p.m.

College Creek was selected to receive a $304,335 grant from the Iowa Watershed Improvement Review Board, a state-funded mandate for improving water quality in Iowa. The total project funding will include $595,875 over three years, including matching funds from the city of Ames and technical assistance from Iowa State University' Department of Landscape Architecture.

The objective of the project is to reduce pollutants entering Squaw Creek from College Creek while, at the same time, creating a more functional stream for people and wildlife.

Construction will occur in 2009 and 2010, beginning at the headwaters of College Creek near Norris Street and Frost Drive and ending near South Dakota Avenue.

Tracy Warner, municipal engineer for the city of Ames, hopes neighboring property owners will attend the open house.

"They are our primary focus," she said. "This is their backyard, they are the ones who will be looking at it, and we want to have their input."