What We Are Doing

Russian River Watershed Cleanup is dedicated to removing the trash from the river and hosts the cleanup event each year with the help of volunteers of all ages. With trash bags in hand, volunteers scour the area in search of plastic bottles, barrels, tires, appliances, and whatever else is present that does not belong the river. The refuse is then carried to a central point along the shoreline.

2008 Garbage CollectedA special thank you to all who participated in 2009’s event.  Together we hauled in the following:

  • 116 tires
  • Buoy marker/float cable
  • One 4-yard debris box of sorted glass and plastic bottles with some cardboard thrown in (These are single-stream items)
  • 2400 pounds of metal, which included
    • one steel I-beam
    • sinks
    • stoves
    • water heaters
    • electric dryer
    • barbeque grill
  • 7220 pounds of an assortment of other household trash and other non-natural items such as
    • Patio chairs
    • Carpet piece for an average size room
    • Loveseat
    • Mattress
    • Fishing pole

To our surprise, there was only one (yes, only one) battery and only three quarts of used motor oil as opposed to many gallons of oil. No electronics were collected this year either.

We hope to see you next year, in 2010, for a very enjoyable and rewarding experience.

 

 The face of the river, in time, became a wonderful book . . . which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as clearly as if it had uttered them with a voice. And it was not a book to be read once and thrown aside, for it had a new story to tell every day.

Mark Twain