By Philip Bair
In spite of the recent influx of heavy rain and colder weather, the KCCB cleanup to celebrate World Wetlands Day on January 28th had over 70 hardworking volunteers come out and remove hundreds of bags’ worth of garbage from Coyote Creek.
Although it was a bit chilly in the morning, we could not have asked for better weather. The effects of the heavy rainfall from weeks prior were still apparent, as low points of the trail along which we were working (particularly near underpasses) were completely flooded with over a foot of water.
While I was primarily there to table and generate interest in our organization through community outreach, there were very few people walking and biking along the trail. Most of the locals who frequent the trails must have known from weeks prior that the trail was flooded and closed until further notice.
Despite the low trail usage that day, the cleanup event was by successful. Volunteers worked a large stretch of the trail, and were often able to sweep the banks of Coyote Creek where accessible.
We’re very grateful for all of our volunteers who dedicated their Saturday mornings to helping restore our waterways for World Wetlands Day. All the work we’ve done and things we’ve accomplished would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of our volunteers.
As always, it’s a pleasure to see familiar faces joining us for these cleanups, and I hope the new folks that joined us this past weekend will consider joining us at future cleanups and continue to stay involved. If you’d like to receive our newsletter and more information about upcoming cleanups, be sure to sign up for our mailing list. We also encourage everyone to bring their family and friends to future events, and for students to share their KCCB experiences with peers in both school clubs and classrooms.
Philip Bair is a Communications Studies student at San Jose State University and an intern with Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful.