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Five agency partners, along with the public, various organizations and local businesses will be participating in the Great Sierra River Cleanup (GSRC) in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties on Saturday, September 17. The project will focus on various sites around New Melones Lake in the Stanislaus River watershed area.
The Bureau of Reclamation’s Central California Area Office, along with the Tuolumne County Land Trust, Tuolumne Resource Conservation District, Master Gardeners, and New Melones Lake Marina, are hosting this event and urging volunteers, including interested organizations and businesses, to join with them in this annual event. As the watershed’s water levels have declined due to California’s continuing drought, trash and debris have been exposed. The one-day event will focus on removing the trash and restoring the health of the waterways in areas around New Melones Lake.
During the first seven years of the Great Sierra River Cleanup, almost 29,000 volunteers joined together to remove over 800 tons of trash and recyclables from watersheds throughout the Sierra Nevada. Hundreds of community groups have spread across 22 counties and over 2,500 river miles to pull appliances, cigarette butts, beverage cans, baby diapers, tires, furniture, and more from the rivers and streams that provide more than 60% of California’s developed water supply.
Cleanup sites for this year’s event will be located in the Glory Hole and Tuttletown Recreation Areas, New Melones Lake Marina, and the Parrotts Ferry Area. Maps will be provided for these locations upon check-in, and volunteers will need to provide their own transportation.
GSRC participants should dress for the summer heat (or the appropriate weather); bring snacks and plenty of water; wear a hat and sturdy shoes; bring and wear sunscreen; and, bring work gloves and trash grabbers, if possible. Participants requiring special accommodations should contact the Bureau of Reclamation as far in advance as possible.
This event supports the Department of the Interior’s Let’s Move Outside! initiative, which was created to get kids and families to take advantage of America’s great outdoors. The event is coordinated by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and held in conjunction with California Coastal Cleanup Day.
To register, please contact Park Ranger Mike McGraw at 209-536-9094 (TTY 800-877-8339) [email protected]. On-site registration and check-in will begin at 8 a.m. at the New Melones Lake Visitor Center, 6850 Studhorse Flat Road, Sonora.
