Sonoma citizens, young and old, joined in Saturday’s 24th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day, ridding neighborhood creeks of what some call a non-native species: trash.
Volunteers from the Sonoma Valley High School Earth Club, the Sonoma Ecology Center (SEC), Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Sassarini Elementary School and the Sonoma Mission Inn scoured neighborhood creeks and banks in three areas. The cleanup effort yielded 1,200 lbs. of trash at Nathanson Creek, 350 lbs. at Maxwell Farms Regional Park, and 756 lbs. at Fryer Creek. Included in the toll, according to SEC stewardship coordinator Julie Jehly, were 4,270 cigarette butts, 1,764 food wrappers and containers, and about 40 lbs. – collected along one quarter-mile stretch – of dog droppings. All this would ultimately present health hazards to the creeks and fish. “With the first rain,” said Jehly, “this would all go into the creek, into the bay and into the ocean.”
The cleanup was a hands-on experience in ecology. Volunteer Mike Bobbitt waded into Nathanson Creek in full wetsuit. He said there were indeed fish in the river, at least two or three inches long – he indicated with thumb and forefinger – but was not sure what kind.
Girl Scout leader Cari Paganini, surrounded by giggling girls who were stuffing various found items such as toy dogs and gummy footballs into their trash bags, said the clean up was important to her because she wanted people to have the same environment she did when she was growing up in Sonoma, 40 years ago. “I’ve seen overpopulation in a lot of areas,” she said, “and there’s a lot more trash than there was when I was a child.”
Her Girl Scouts chimed in saying they were glad to be there because they’re getting extra credit for their science class – and also, thanks to their efforts, “the creek is healthier and [the trash] doesn’t go down to the ocean.”
Sonoma Valley High School Earth Club co-Presidents Melissa and Alexandra Carlson were at the scene too, bags in hand, eager to explain the significance of the project. “Alexa” said they were getting their Gold Awards with the Girl Scouts, and after picking up the trash, they’d be taking everyone on a tour, showing them the different elements of a healthy creek and how they can improve creeks near their home. She said Nathanson Creek is a unique opportunity for all the youth in Sonoma Valley “because it’s right behind the high school and right next to the middle school. So what we’re trying to do with these cleanups is get the youth and the student body more involved.” Physical sciences teacher Dean Knight is giving extra credit to those who participate in the cleanup, said Melissa. “It’s really good to get as many people involved from the community as possible,” she said, “because I think a lot of people take it for granted that we live in a beautiful valley where you could just go out and hike in the mountains, or you could just come and walk next to a creek. A lot of people don’t have that, and if we don’t keep these creeks clean and if we don’t keep them healthy—if we don’t keep helping them, we aren’t going to have them for future generations, which would be very, very sad.”
Following the cleanup, volunteers gathered for a fiesta organized by SEC Education Program Manager Sandi Funke. Sonoma Mission Inn donated 150 lunches for the fiesta and Safeway donated bagels, bananas and coffee for the morning breakfast. Jehly pronounced the community effort “super successful.”
