Santa Cruz Rivers And Parks

September Event Canceled

2010-09-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the last minute cancellation, we cannot find anyone to take over for us this month, but we strongly encourage you to get out and clean up on your own, and let us know what you were able to achieve. We'll be back in October, but if you want to volunteer tomorrow with another great volunteer crew pulling weeds, check out what our friends are doing at Pilkington Creek just outside the Santa Cruz Natural History Museum:

PILKINGTON CREEK CLEANUP & HABITAT RESTORATION

WHEN: September 11, October 2 & 23, 10am to 1 pm. Please join us for one or more of these dates!

WHERE: Meet near the whale sculpture outside the Museum of Natural History (located at 1305 E. Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, 95060)

WHAT: Join our team of weed whackers to clear out invasive English Ivy and Mattress Wire Vine, an alien invader from New Zealand that's smothering plants in Pilkington Creek that runs into Seabright Beach from the grounds of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. After we clear out pesky weeds we will create a natural riparian habitat with California native plants.

DETAILS: Wear long sleeves and closed toed shoes. If you have gloves and tools, bring them. Otherwise we will supply them. Bring a sack lunch and we'll picnic after we work. Under 18-year-olds need to come with a parent or adult guardian who can sign a volunteer release for them.

CONTACT: For more information, contact Nancy Lenz: nanlenz@cruzio.com or 831-426-5252.

This project is a collaboration between local community members, Friends of Parks and Recreation, Seabright Neighborhood Association, City of Santa Cruz Parks Department, and the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. It is one of several in Santa Cruz County made possible by a grant from the Chuck Haugen Conservation Fund. http://www.chuckhaugenconservationfund.org/

August Event Details

2010-08-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

August Event Details

When: August 7, 2010 9am-11am

Where: Meet at the park at the northeast side of the Broadway/Laurel Street Bridge (see map below).

Bring: Hat, water, sunblock, snack and layers!
What will be provided: gloves, trash buckets, grabbers and hand sanitizer

Join us on Saturday, August 7th from 9am till 11am to help pick up trash along the San Lorenzo River levee. We typically pick up lots of plastic bags, cigarette butts, bottles, clothing and many other interesting items that would otherwise likely end up in the ocean. There will at least 3 young children joining us this month, so bring the family and enjoy a morning of fun-filled volunteerism!

We've recently acquired three new buckets and three new grabbers, thanks to the generous support of the Chuck Haugen Conservation Fund.

SCRAP events occur the first Saturday of every month.

Help us spread the word by inviting some friends!

July Event Details

2010-07-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

Here are the details for the upcoming July event:
When: Saturday, July 3, 2010 10am-12pm
Where: Meet at the HWY 1 Pedestrian Bridge adjacent to the Ross parking lot (see map below)
Bring: Hat, water, snack and layers!
What will be provided: gloves, trash buckets, grabbers and hand sanitizer

Join us on Saturday, July 3rd from 10am till noon to help pick up trash along the San Lorenzo River banks and levee. We typically pick up lots of plastic bags, cigarette butts, bottles, clothing and many other interesting items that would otherwise likely end up in the ocean.

We'll meet at the new foot bridge adjacent to highway 1.

We've recently acquired three new buckets and three new grabbers, thanks to the generous support of the Chuck Haugen Conservation Fund, so grab some friends and head on down to help.

SCRAP events occur the first Saturday of every month.

Help us spread the word by invite some friends!

The SCRAP team
cleantheriver.blogspot.com
(831) 515-8211
scrap@montereybayconservationevents.org

Ban the Plastic Bag!!

2010-06-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

Hello friends of Santa Cruz Rivers And Parks! As we continue to do our monthly clean-ups we've realized that the majority of the items we're picking up are plastic bags. The following bill is on it's way to the State Senate. We need your support to get it passed.

On June 2 the State Assembly passed AB 1998, aka the Ban the Plastic Bag Bill. AB 1998, introduced by Julia Brownley D-Santa Monica, is an effort to 'wean Californians' from the plastic bag habit and begin to cease the environmental devastation caused by plastic.

"We have long passed the point of simply cutting our six-pack rings to save marine life. Photos abound of turtles eating plastic bags — cute until you learn they died — and autopsied birds stuffed like piñatas with bottle caps. I have introduced a new bill this year, AB1998, which would ban plastic bags and impose a fee on paper bags to wean Californians off their nasty bag habit. We’ve cut other nasty habits, we can cut this habit, too."

The Bill will move to the Senate Policy Committee, then probably a few more hoops, then to the Senate for a vote and only then does AB 1998 become California law.

THE UGLY FACTS

As stated in AB 1998:

-The North Pacific Gyre in the Pacific Ocean is home to largest garbage dump of plastic trash, now estimated to be the size of the United States and is increasing rapidly.

-According to the California Coastal Commission, the majority of marine debris is composed of plastic materials; 60 to 80 percent overall and 90 percent of floating debris is plastic.

-Only 5 percent of plastic carryout bags are recycled and the rest either take up valuable landfill space or are discarded in the environment

-Plastics made from bio-based sources that are marketed as "compostable" or "biodegradable" have not been shown to degrade in aquatic environments and require conditions only available in composting facilities to rapidly break down into constituents that assimilate back into the environment.

THE BILL

AB 1998 states the following:

-After July 2011 large retail stores-ya know the big boxes, supermarkets, etc -will be prohibited from providing a plastic carryout bag to a customer.

-Stores will provide old-growth-free paper carryout bags and charge the customer a $0.05 fee at the time of sale. With the fees collected a Plastic Bag Pollution Cleanup Fund will be created to provide grants to counties and cities to provide reusable bags to their citizens and partner with nonprofit community-based organizations, for purposes of litter cleanup activities.

Read AB 1998 in its entirety

WHAT YOU CAN DO

In addition to actively removing plastic bags from rivers and parks in Santa Cruz with SCRAP on the first Saturday of every month, you can take action and send letter of support of AB 1998 to Sen. Joe Simitian.

And why stop there....in your letter demand that the reusable bags that retailers, counties and cities either sell or give away are FAIR TRADE and MADE IN THE USA.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF THIS IMPORTANT CAUSE!

-The SCRAP team

June Clean-Up Event

2010-06-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

Please join us for our June clean-up event on Saturday, June 5th, 2010!

Here are the details for this Saturday's event. We'll be starting at 10am, so grab a cup of coffee and a donut and come meet us:

When:
Saturday, June 5, 2010
10am-12pm
Where:
Meet at the San Lorenzo River pedestrian bridge at San Lorenzo Park (see map below).
Bring:
Hat, water, snack, layers and gloves if you have them! We'll provide the trash buckets, hand sanitizer and extra gloves.

SCRAP events occur the first Saturday of every month.

Thank you for the support!

The SCRAP team
cleantheriver.blogspot.com
(831) 515-8211
scrap@montereybayconservationevents.org

click on map for directions

May Event

2010-04-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

Upcoming event this Saturday!

It's time again for another river cleanup. This time we'll focus on the southern section of the levee, from Laurel Street to Riverside Avenue. This weeks rain likely got things wet and brought lots of trash down stream, so bring clothes and shoes you don't mind getting a little wet. As always, we'll have a supply of buckets, grabbers and gloves, but feel free to bring your own if you have them.

This month's event will be held on Saturday, May 1, 2010 from 10:30am -12:30pm. We'll start on the San Lorenzo River levee at Laurel Street and Broadway, work our way down to the skate park, then back up the west levee. See the map below for parking location and be sure to visit our blog for more info: http://cleantheriver.blogspot.com

And thanks to all who came and helped the April event a success! Four of us picked up approximately 100 gallons of cigarette butts, plastic and glass bottles, household trash and styrofoam.

The SCRAP team
cleantheriver.blogspot.com
(831) 515-8211
scrap@montereybayconservationevents.org

April Event details

2010-03-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Please join us for our next clean-up event!
Here are the details for this Saturday's event. We'll be starting bright and early at 9am, so don't forget to drink your coffee...

When:
Saturday, April 3, 2010 RAIN OR SHINE
9am-11am
Where:
Meet at the San Lorenzo River pedestrian bridge at San Lorenzo Park (see map below).
Bring:
Hat, water, snack, layers and gloves if you have them! We'll provide the trash buckets, hand sanitizer and extra gloves.

SCRAP events occur the first Saturday of every month.

Thank you for the support!

The SCRAP team
cleantheriver.blogspot.com
(831) 515-8211
scrap@montereybayconservationevents.org

click on map for directions

Successful First Event!

2010-03-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who came and helped make our first Santa Cruz Rivers and Parks event a success! Five of us picked up approximately 150 gallons of trash, ranging from cigarette butts to large strands of plastic tubing to a shopping cart. The winner of the "coolest piece of trash" contest was Peter with his Magic 8-ball. See him for your fortune-telling needs.

We hope you'll join us for our next event on Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 10am. We'll be starting at San Lorenzo Park pedestrian bridge. Click on the the map for directions.

Rain or shine!

2010-03-05T08:13:00.001-08:00

Hello friends and fellow volunteers,

Just an update that tomorrow's first ever SCRAP event will start at 10am, rain or shine. So pack your rain gear, slap on your galoshes and come help keep trash from washing into the river!

Call us at (831) 824-4868 or send an email to scrap (at) chuckhaugenconservationfund (dot) org if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Ground-breaking event!

2010-02-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

Please join us for the first Santa Cruz Rivers and Parks event on March 6, 2010!

Here are the details:

When: March 6, 2010 10am-12pm
Where: Meet at the HWY 1 Pedestrian Bridge adjacent to the Ross parking lot. (map)
Bring: Hat, water, snack and layers!
What will be provided: gloves, trash buckets, and hand sanitizer

SCRAP events will occur the first Saturday of every month.

Thank you for the support!