If you are a civic-minded individual who is interested in helping to make your community and its environment a little bit cleaner and a whole lot better, then Saturday, Sept. 20 is going to be right up your alley. That is the date of the annual Carson City Kiwanis Club and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) annual Carson River Clean-Up.
And, both organizations have put out a call for volunteers to help with that clean-up. They need volunteers, lots of volunteers! So, here's your chance to help out.
Representatives of the Kiwanis Club and BLM will be spending the day working with volunteers, in and along the Carson River, doing a multitude of clean-up tasks.
Kiwanis Club representative Ron Bowman is asking for volunteers to help with that massive clean-up. He told me that there will be more than enough to do for everyone who shows up, and he would be delighted to have as many as 150-200 volunteers show up on that day.
Among volunteers, in past years, have been members of such groups as 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.
So, if you would like to help, here is some useful information:
Date: Saturday, Sept. 20.
Time: Check-in time is 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 traffic light at 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. The BLM complex will be on the left hand side.
Planned activities: There will be clean-up work at a number of different areas along the river, which can include removing any abandoned vehicles, and doing whatever else can be done to help improve and clean-up the Carson River. In addition, there will be some clean-up work in the Prison Hill area, between the Nevada State Prison and the water tower.
The volunteers will also be doing some clean-up work in a couple of small side canyons near Mexican Dam. According to Bowman, "One of those side canyons is pretty bad. It has been used as an illegal dump site for a long time."
Brunswick Canyon Bridge: Volunteers are reminded the Brunswick Canyon Bridge has been condemned as unsafe and is off limits for vehicles or pedestrians. That means: Stay off the bridge.
Volunteer under the age of 18: Those young individuals will need a signed permission slip from their parents or guardians to work on the clean-up. Permission slips will be available at the work sites. Persons bringing groups of youngsters may also obtain those slips, in advance, by calling the individuals listed below.
Volunteer Requirements: You will need to wear work clothes, and to have such items as work gloves, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and insect repellent (if needed).
Kiwanis Club: Will be issuing Carson River Clean-Up T-shirts, snack bars, bottles of drinking water and a meal ticket for the lunch barbecue.
Bowman said to remind you to be sure not to lose that lunch ticket, whatever that means.
Free Lunch: Will be served at 1 p.m. at the BLM parking lot. It will consist of plenty of hamburgers, hotdogs, soft drinks and other "goodies." According to Bowman, "It will be a "Gourmet Lunch."
Past work on Carson River Clean-Up days: Has included: 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, just to list a few activities.
On a personal note: For those that may not know it, many years ago, on one of the first Carson River clean-ups, I was a member of a small work crew that installed Wood Duck nesting boxes on a number of cottonwood trees along the river. At that time, it was fascinating to me to learn that the nesting boxes had to be installed where the little Wood Duck chicks could glide from the boxes to the water of the river, when they first ventured out from their birthplace.
So I guess I must be some sort of step-parent to Wood Ducks. Geez, I might even have wood ducks for great-great-great grandchildren!
Finally: Bowman told me that based on several of his inspections of the river area this summer, the annual Clean-Up Days are beginning to make a definite difference as that area is noticeably cleaner than it has been in past years.
A great big well done to everyone for a great job!
So, to keep that trend going, be sure to mark Saturday, Sept. 20 on your calendar to be a part of this year's annual river clean-up.
It is a worthwhile project that will benefit all of us, who live here in Carson City.
Special Note: If you should see Bowman that day, be sure to ask him about all of the details of his 136-pound halibut that he caught while on a fishing trip to Sitka, Alaska, back in early July.
Of the four fishermen in his party, he caught the largest and would love to tell you all about it.
Heck, just ask him!
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 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 clean-ups.
If he grins and says, "That litter in the past has included such items as old car bodies, mattresses, washing machine parts, a vacuum cleaner, a rusty gun, barbed wire, tin cans, broken glass and lots and lots of trash," he wins this bet.
Don Quilici is the Outdoors editor for the Nevada Appeal