LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Despite this past Saturday's wet conditions, several dozen volunteers were out to help clean up local waterways.
The local watershed cleanup was part of the 29th annual Coastal Cleanup Day, which focuses as much on inland waterways as it does beaches and the coast.
The California Coastal Commission said there were 850 cleanup sites this year in 53 of the state's 58 counties.
With 70 percent of cleanup sites reporting, the commission said there were 51,543 volunteers who picked up 471,218 pounds of trash and an additional 30,530 pounds of recyclable materials, for a total of 501,748 pounds or 251 tons.
On Saturday there were 33 volunteers, as well as Americorps members, who showed up to help clean up in the Clearlake area, according to Carolyn Ruttan, invasive species program coordinator for Lake County Water Resources.
There were two staging points – one at Lake County Fire Protection District in Clearlake and the second at the Bachelor Valley Grange. Ruttan said on Monday that she hadn't yet gotten a report or tally from the Northshore cleanup area.
Notable items pulled from Clearlake-area waterways and creeks were 14 tires, a car fender and five shopping carts, said Ruttan.
Altogether, the nearly three dozen volunteers removed 1,680 pounds of trash and recyclables from the Clearlake area, Ruttan said.
Lake County's watershed cleanup, and other inland efforts like it, play an important role in the Coastal Commission's overall efforts to keep coastlines clean.
Based on data from past cleanups, the commission said 60 to 80 percent of the debris on beaches and shorelines originates in land-based sources, traveling through storm drains, creeks or rivers to the beaches and ocean.
In Lake County, the largest body of water – Clear Lake – is connected to the Bay-Delta and, ultimately, the coast through Cache Creek.
The Cache Creek area was a focus for the Saturday cleanup, said Ruttan, explaining that volunteers removed a large amount of trash from underneath the Highway 53 bridge that passes over Cache Creek.
The area has been a homeless camp. “It was the biggest trash heap you can imagine,” said Ruttan.
After the cleanup, she said it was a “night and day” difference.
While cleaning up, volunteers met with a homeless man living there, and left him with garbage bags to help dispose of his trash, she said.
A number of local students and teacher Lisa Rogers from Lower Lake Elementary took part in the cleanup, and Ruttan said along the way she was able to give them a biology lesson about cyanobacteria, which can turn the water green.
Lisa Wilson, whose parents own the Shady Acres Campground on Cache Creek Way, allowed volunteers to access the bridge from the campground's property, as Ruttan said it's too dangerous to access it from the highway.
Ruttan said the campground also made bathroom and other facilities available to volunteers.
Wilson said the campground has led two previous Cache Creek cleanups, one a month ago and one this past winter.
In addition to Cache Creek, Ruttan said cleanup also took place on Austin Beach and along Burns Valley Creek.
This year the Coastal Commission said coastal volunteers were on the lookout for debris from a new source – items that may have been washed into the Pacific due to the March 2011 tsunami in Japan.
Volunteers at many sites carried a data card, designed by the Coastal Commission with help from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, to track potential tsunami debris, the commission said.
“We’ve been on the lookout for any debris that may have come from the tsunami, but at least to date, most of the debris on our beaches is still coming from the usual sources,” explained Eben Schwartz, marine debris program manager for the California Coastal Commission. “Coastal Cleanup Day teaches us that what we see along our coast as a result of the Japan tsunami is just a small drop in the bucket compared to what we clean up each year.”
As of the end of August, the Coastal Commission had run more than 40 cleanups over an eight-month period for the purpose of tracking potential tsunami debris.
During those cleanups, volunteers have found barely a dozen items that were considered “suspected” tsunami debris. By contrast, volunteers on California Coastal Cleanup Day typically find upwards of 850,000 debris items in only three hours, the commission said.
In addition to tracking down tsunami debris, volunteers picked up a number of “unusual” items during this year’s cleanup. Most unusual item picked up on the coast was a stereo speaker with a live octopus inside, the commission said. The speaker was opened and the octopus returned to the ocean.
In inland California, the commission said a baby stroller with a demon head attached to it was ruled the oddest item.
Those who were unable to make it to the beach for Coastal Cleanup Day can still participate in COASTWEEKS, a three-week celebration of our coastal resources that takes place across the United States. The Coastal Commission has a calendar of COASTWEEKS events on its Web site.
To get involved with COASTWEEKS, or to find out how you can become a coastal steward throughout the year, please contact the commission at 800-COAST-4U or visit at www.coast4u.org .
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.