Photo courtesy of CVC Photography
04/22/22
7th Annual
Earth Day Lower Salt River Cleanup
On Friday, April 22nd, we hosted our 7th annual Green Friday Lower Salt River Cleanup. Volunteers started at Phon D Sutton Rec Area removing trash from the river, riverbanks, trails, picnic areas, & parking lots. Volunteers more familiar with the river headed upriver to pick up trash from Water Users, Pebble Beach, Blue Point, & Coon Bluff Rec Areas, & a group of volunteers went downriver to Granite Reef. 375 volunteers, including 21 youth volunteers, helped us remove 1,620 pounds of trash!
We removed a lot micro-trash! Volunteers found a lot of Easter confetti & grass, pieces of wrappers, Capri Sun straws & the straw wrappers, fishing line, masks, cigarette butts, kids toys, clothing, shoes & flip flops, zip ties, glass & plastic bottles & bottle tops, aluminum cans, styrofoam cups, pizza boxes, beer can boxes, cardboard boxes and wrappers from river floats & water toys, broken glass, grocery bags, sunglasses, and so much more. Volunteers also helped us remove invasive stinknet.
Earth Day provides us with another chance to celebrate the connection between people and outdoor spaces in their community, inspire environmental stewardship, & encourage use of outdoor spaces for education, recreation, and general health.
We would also like to thank the following organizations for their support of this event:
AZ 4Runner Outsiders, Arizona Toy Pros, Battle Born Offroad, Davidson’s Inc., Desert Monsters Tours, DuroBumps, Environmental Professionals of Arizona, Gallery of Guns, Icon Vehicle Dynamics, Illuminated Funds Group, Joyride Society, Nitro Gear & Axle, the ON Semiconductor Foundation, Overland Expo Foundation, the Phoenix Suns, REI, Salt River Project, State 48 Overland, Tru Flask, Unisource Energy Services, Victory 4x4, WAYMO, and Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative.
Thank you to everyone at U.S. Forest Service Tonto National Forest - Mesa Ranger District for their support of this event!
Thank you to volunteers from our Sponsors & Grantors for volunteering with us on Earth Day: Environmental Professionals of Arizona, Joyride Society, the ON Semiconductor Foundation, REI, Salt River Project, Tru Flask, & WAYMO.
click a photo to view full size image
Photos courtesy of CVC Photography
Photos from of Justin & Nicole Corey
REMOVING STINKNET (GLOBE CHAMOMILE) FROM the AREA
STINKNET IS SPREADING RAPIDLY ACROSS ARIZONA. IT PRESENTS A CHALLENGE BECAUSE IT COMPETES WITH NATIVE VEGETATION & CAN QUICKLY DOMINATE A LANDSCAPE.
Invasive plants generally grow and utilize resources such as sunlight, water and nutrients faster than native plants in the southwest. By removing this competition factor, native plants have a greater chance of recolonizing areas formerly overrun by invasive species.
Photo courtesy of Jackie Terry from On Semiconductor
Photos Courtesy of garett cline from our dedicated restoration team
Photo courtesy of Amanda Zink from Waymo
Photos Courtesy of Steven Morin
Click HERE to check out our Events Calendar & register for a cleanup.
Photo courtesy of CVC Photography