Sept. 22 Carson River cleanup needs lots of volunteers

If you are a civic-minded individual interested in helping your community make itself a little bit cleaner and better, then Sept. 22 is right up your alley.

Sept. 22 is the date of the annual Carson City Kiwanis Club Carson River Cleanup. And, they have put out a call for volunteers to help them. Lots of volunteers!

That service club and representatives of the Carson District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), will be spending the day, working with volunteers, in and along the Carson River, doing a multitude of cleanup tasks.

Among the volunteers will be the Carson City Parks and Recreation Department, Carson City Street Department, Carson City Kiwanis Club, Bureau of Land Management, Boy Scouts, Carson High School Key Club, National Junior Reserve Officer's Training Corps (NJROTC), Friends of the Carson River, Friends of the Silver Saddle Ranch, Carson High School, Carson River Advisory Committee and Carson City Chamber of Commerce, just to name a few.

Kiwanis Club representative Ron Bowman is asking for lots of volunteers to help with that massive cleanup. He says that there will be more than enough to do for everyone who shows up, and would love to have as many as 150-200 volunteers on that day.

So, here is some information:

Date: Saturday, Sept. 22.

Time: Check-in time is at 8 a.m.

Check-in Location: The Bureau of Land Management office parking lot at 5665 Morgan Mill Road.

To reach that location, go east on U.S. 50 to the intersection of U.S. 50 and Deer Run Road. Turn right onto Deer Run Road. Then from Deer Run Road, turn right onto Morgan Mill Road. BLM will be on the left hand side.

Planned activities: They will be doing cleanup at several areas along the river, planting willow saplings in the Mexican Dam area, removing abandoned vehicles (with the invaluable assistance from the Nevada National Guard), and whatever else they can find to help improve and cleanup the Carson River. They will also be doing some cleanup at the Prison Hill area.

Brunswick Canyon Bridge: Volunteers are reminded that the Brunswick Canyon Bridge has been condemned as unsafe and is off limits for vehicles or pedestrians.

Volunteer under the age of 18: Will need a signed permission slip from their parents or guardians to work on the cleanup. Those permission slips will be available at the work sites. Those bringing groups of youngsters may also obtain those slips by calling the individuals listed below.

Volunteer Requirements: Need to wear work clothes, and to have such items as sturdy work gloves, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and insect repellent (if needed).

Kiwanis Club: Will be issuing Carson River Cleanup T-shirts, snack bars, bottles of drinking water and a meal ticket for the lunch barbecue.

Free Lunch: Will be served at 1 p.m. at the BLM parking lot. It will consist of hamburgers, hotdogs, soft drinks and other "goodies."

Past work on Carson River Cleanup days: Has included such things as: Constructing thousands of feet of trails, removing hundreds of cubic yards of trash, planting willow tree seedlings, installing large boulders to prevent unauthorized vehicle access, clearing brush, wrapping trees with chicken wire to protect them from beavers, installing and maintaining nesting boxes for Wood Ducks and installing picnic tables and benches at various locations, etc.

Plus over the years, the Kiwanis Club has donated many thousands of dollars to assist Carson City, Carson City Parks and Recreation Dept. and BLM in improving the Carson River.

On a personal note: Many years ago, on one of the first Carson River cleanups, I was on a small work crew that installed Wood Duck nesting boxes on a number of cottonwood trees along the river.

Some of those nesting boxes still exist and have been used through the years. So I guess I must be some sort of stepparent to Wood Ducks. Geez, I might have wood ducks for great-great-great grandchildren!

Finally: Be sure to mark Sept. 22 on your calendar to be a part of that annual river cleanup.

It is a worthwhile project that will truly benefit all of us.

To sign up as a volunteer or for information: Call BLM Recreational Planner Mark Struble at 885-6000 or Kiwanis Club representative Ron Bowman at 885-7302 or 883-7341 or Kiwanis Club Representative and Boy Scouts Representative Bill Knight at 882-3075.

• Bet Your Favorite Pigeon

Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you about some of the litter that has been removed in the past during those cleanups.

If he grins and says, "That litter in the past has included such things as old car bodies, mattresses, washing machine parts, a vacuum cleaner, a rusty gun, barbed wire, tin cans, broken glass and trash," he wins this bet.

• Don Quilici is the Outdoors editor for the Nevada Appeal