Meet Our Community: Colter Cook

As part of our seasonal spotlight series, we’re celebrating our incredible employees, partners, and volunteers who help make the work of Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful (KCCB) possible. In our Earth Day Blog, we talk about the ‘Ripple Effect’ and how all it takes is one person to inspire many to make a change in their community. Today, we’re excited to introduce Colter, a passionate volunteer who is inspired by his personal philosophy to protect outdoor spaces and facilitate a safe space for others to learn and build connections.

Role: BioBlitz Docent, Cleanup Volunteer, Consultant

With KCCB: For over 8 years!

Colter hugging a redwood tree

Fun Facts 🌟

• Happy place: Lassen National Park 🏞️ 

• Unusual creek sightings: Animal Skull, Sculptures, Horsehair Worm 🪱 ☠️

• Favorite hobbies: Camping, Origami, Hiking 🥾 🏕️

• Favorite place to eat: Bossman's Pizza 😋

• Favorite color: Eggplant Purple 🌈

When asking Colter about his happy place, he mentioned “Lassen National Park up near Redding…they have mud pots there and lots of geothermal activity and quite a variety of different volcanic geologic features which I love.”

How it All Started 🌱

Colter was first introduced to Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful when he was working for the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge. When he was invited to a KCCB cleanup, he said, “I was totally floored by how much trash they were picking up and making the creek beautiful in one day and three-hour blocks.” 

Later on, in 2018, he was offered an opportunity to work for KCCB and was an employee for five years. He described that KCCB goes to areas that the community doesn’t normally go to. Making these invisible places suddenly visible, he expressed that people often don’t know the scope of how much trash accumulates in such delicate places along the creek. He found something significant, which is that hidden spaces are important to reveal, because then we are able to change it. 

Colter also highlights that past experiences can often inspire younger versions of ourselves. He said, “I have memories of when I was in high school and actually on my lunch break I’d walk around campus picking up trash because people would just throw it off to the side…I was just so upset with them, and to find out there’s a whole organization that addresses this aligns with my pre-existing philosophy.”

Colter as a Docent at a BioBlitz

Impact on the Community 🌎

It’s never about just cleaning up litter. What Colter has unearthed from being engaged in cleanups is something essential to our humanity. Not only are folks getting involved in seeing what is in their backyard, but by doing these events, he said,

“We create new stewards by exposing them to what’s happening, and I think that’s an even greater good than picking up pieces of trash…which is still good, but there’s an even greater good that KCCB offers to the public.”

KCCB creates impact beyond cleaning up trash; it has helped a community learn and grow together. It teaches an important life lesson: to sustain and have grit. Colter described the experience of trying to get a shopping cart out of the creek. The shopping cart was entrenched in a root system, and the process of slowly digging away and excavating that shopping cart as a group was a moment of victory for everyone. 

“It wasn’t just about the shopping cart; it was the collective effort of everyone working together.”

Colter Enjoying a Cleanup

Looking Ahead: The Future of KCCB ☀️🌳

Colter has described several key themes in his work with KCCB. The primary one is bringing awareness to these hidden worlds that need protection in the environment. Additionally, it’s the attitude and acknowledgement that action is what truly creates future stewards of our world. It was never just about cleaning up around the creek, but teaching others to care for our neighborhood and community. Then lastly, it’s not just about our outcomes, but about celebrating the effort and grit that people use when working in community together to create change.

Colter hopes that programs like these can continue to get funding and support because they play such an important role in our communities. He also described that it could expand in the future if enough people see the value that it offers, because over time, people return due to the diverse set of activities it offers. 

Colter Playing Jeopardy with Kids

Final Thoughts ✨

If someone were considering volunteering, Colter expressed that:

“There’s no commitment to come back if you really don’t feel strongly about it, but it’s three hours on a Saturday or Sunday to really do some good or learn something new, and it’s free…it’s a nice way to get outside…to meet new people…and there’s nothing to lose.”

At the very least, you could come away from the experience learning something special, which Colter described as “hidden inspiration” along the creek.