West Atlanta Watershed Alliance Environmental Education Programs

West Atlanta Watershed Alliance Environmental Education Programs include activities such as self-guided tours of historic land, conservation, stewardship and experiential learning activities, and learning and exploration in an old growth forest. The program offers events and workshops including an Open House: Outdoor Activity Center, a LIVE Reading and Generative Writing Workshop with a poetry reading and author talk, a generative writing workshop drawing on the watershed’s dry creek beds for inspiration, and WAWA Wednesdays Homeschool Program. Additional activities include Service Saturdays, Mid Week Volunteer Service, Proctor Creek Habitat Restoration Day to remove invasive species and litter, Beech Buds - An Outdoor Toddler and Me Program to create and explore in the outdoors, Juanita Wallace Day of Service, water monitoring and testing, maintaining stormwater infrastructure, an Urban BioBlitz using apps to take inventory of native species, the WAWA Westside Campout to learn to pitch a tent, enjoy outdoor food, and take hikes, Seniors 101: Mushroom Workshop, a Mushroom Cultivation Workshop, and the Westside Chattahoochee Paddle to paddle down the Chattahoochee River and learn the history of the waterway and surrounding lands.

• Ages: 2–18 years old
• Price: Cost: $13 for the LIVE Reading and Generative Writing Workshop; Cost: $15.00 for Seniors 101: Mushroom Workshop; Cost: $15.00 for Mushroom Cultivation Workshop

The mission of West Atlanta Watershed Alliance is to improve the quality of life within the West Atlanta Watershed by protecting, preserving and restoring the community’s natural resources. Beech Buds is specifically designed for ages 2–5, and the Environmental Stewardship program is for youth 10 years and older to participate in conservation and stewardship activities. The Outdoor Activity Center is a 26-acre urban forest preserve and nature center that includes a 25-acre old-growth forest. West Atlanta Watershed Alliance represents African American neighborhoods in Northwest and Southwest Atlanta that are most inundated with environmental stressors and co-created the Proctor Creek Stewardship Council, which consists of residents and volunteers who lead stewardship activities in various parts of the watershed. Through an MOU with the City of Atlanta Bureau of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs, West Atlanta Watershed Alliance operates the Outdoor Activity Center and co-stewards Cascade Springs Nature Preserve and Lionel Hampton Beecher Park, and the program is made possible in part by a grant from the USDA Forest Service for the Atlanta Children’s Forest Network. The Georgia Tech Vertically Integrated Project: Building for Equity and Sustainability is working to create an outdoor classroom with West Atlanta Watershed Alliance that draws influence from Afrofuturism and serves as an outdoor education space. West Atlanta Watershed Alliance’s symbol is WAWA Aba, or “Seed of the WAWA Tree,” a West African Adinkra symbol of hardiness, toughness, and perseverance. The leadership team includes Chanté Lively, Environmental Education Coordinator; Shantaé Shearer, Marketing & Communications Director; Quanda Spencer, Environmental Scientist & Volunteer Services Coordinator; Ari Holt, Business Development Manager; and Janelle Wright, Environmental Justice Programs Manager.

Last updated August 1, 2026.