Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful’s annual Great Community Clean-Up is to be held April 29 from 8 a.m. to noon, and the nonprofit is calling for volunteers to come together to help pick up litter, remove invasive weeds, and beautify local neighborhoods and public lands.
Last year, more than 900 volunteers met at 26 local parks and cleanup sites throughout Reno and Sparks to remove over 35 tons of illegally dumped trash, invasive weeds, and litter. This year there will be more places to help and partners stepping in to amplify the effort to keep Truckee Meadows clean and pristine for all to enjoy.
Some of the places in the Sparks area you can volunteer at include Cottonwood Park, Golden Eagle/Spanish Springs Canyon, and Wedekind Regional Park. Cottonwood Park is accessible and family friendly while the Golden Eagle/Spanish Springs Canyon is rugged and easier to get to with a 4×4 vehicle. Children 17 and under must have an adult present and are not advised to come to this site because of the scale of the work (which is mainly removing large appliances, furniture, or other illegally dumped items). However, the Wedekind Regional Park is family-friendly and is one of City of Sparks’ last open spaces that links to the Sparks Regional Trail System. Rock Park is also an option to volunteer at.
“By connecting and involving our community to issues like litter and illegal dumping, all of us work collaboratively to make an immediate impact with the goal of enacting a positive long-term change in public spaces. Coupled with the important resources and education we also offer, such as KTMB’s Recycling Guide, classroom and business education about our watershed, waste reduction, and noxious and invasive weeds, we hope to encourage folks to live a sustainable lifestyle,” says KTMB Executive Director Mark Cameron.
Volunteer sign-ups are now open on the KTMB website at ktmb.org/volunteer. KTMB is looking for participants to help clean up the sites as well as project leaders, who serve as a main point of contact for the organization and help oversees volunteer activities. The event takes place on Saturday, April 29 and everyone is treated to a picnic afterwards at the site. Volunteers are encouraged to wear closed-toe shoes and long pants, and bring a water bottle, wear sunscreen, and bring work gloves if you have them. KTMB will supply the snacks, tools, and water.
KTMB’s Great Community Cleanup is made possible thanks to: Truckee River Fund through the Community Foundation of Northern Nevada, Washoe County Health District, Nevada Division of Forestry, Nevada Department of Environmental Protection, Wells Fargo, Sun Valley General Improvement District, Washoe County, City of Reno, Nevada Department of Wildlife, SaveMart, The Nature Conservancy, Pepsi, Friends of Nevada Wilderness, and City of Sparks.