National River Cleanup Day Recap

May 2017

From Palo Alto to Gilroy, on May 20, 2017, more than 1,200 volunteers removed more than 33,000 pounds of trash, recycling over 3,000 pounds of debris from our creeks.

GreenTown Los Altos volunteers – more than 40 strong – joined countywide efforts on National River Cleanup Day to clean our local waterways. From Permanente Creek at Heritage Oaks Park in Los Altos, we removed 10 pounds of mostly plastic trash; another 15 pounds of debris was removed from the creek banks and recycled; and enthusiastic volunteers from the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail pulled 18 pounds of invasive thistle from the creek banks that was put into compost.

Grassroots Ecology’s Shelley Pneh brought the Enviroscape to demonstrate what kinds of pollution gets into our waterways and how it gets there. In between the collecting and sorting of trash, Shelley introduced volunteers to some aquatic bugs. We learned which bugs are more sensitive to water pollution and which can tolerate more pollution, as we identified some found in Permanente Creek.

Thanks to Girl Scout Troop #60197, leader Sandra Stapleton, and parent volunteer Swati Pandya from Montclaire School for their participation.

Save the date for our next cleanup: September 16, 2017, on National Coastal Cleanup Day. Or send us an email and we’ll send you a reminder!