Santa Rosa Creek Week September 20-28

Alastair Bliefuss, CITY OF SANTA ROSA
Hello Creek Stewards,
This Saturday, to start off Creek Week, will be the 30th annual Coast and Creek Cleanup Day, one of the largest volunteer events in the world. What started as clean ups of our beaches has now spread to many inland waterways. After all, our creeks eventually run to the sea and data collected over the years indicate that the majority of trash along the California coast travels there through our creeks and rivers.
I hope that you will be able to join us on one of two creek clean ups in Santa Rosa starting at 9:00 Saturday morning. Details are available at srcity.org/creekweek.
The link also includes details of the creek walks occurring during Creek Week, as well as activities along the Prince Memorial Greenway during Family Fun Day on Saturday, September 27th.
Coast and Creek Cleanup volunteers use data cards to keep track of every single item of trash picked up. This data is slowly having an impact on how the State of California regulates trash. You can visit the California Coastal Commission’s webpage to learn more about the “trash species” such as:
Swirlitarius singularum AKA single-use plastic coffee stirrer, Poopbagus disgustimus AKA bag of dog poop, Cuttano yourfoota AKA the common glass bottle, and Inflammatory sparkatorius AKA cigarette lighter. (116,345 cigarette lighters have been collected during Coast and Creek Cleanup Day since 1989. Buoyant and colorful, these items are often mistaken for food by seabirds and then fed to their young.)
The 1½ miles of Matanzas and Spring Creeks that border Doyle Park have been one of Santa Rosa’s cleanup sites since 2006. In those 8 years volunteers have collected 2,148 pounds of recyclable materials and 1,600 pounds of trash (including 56 cigarette lighters!)
Take care of your creeks, take care of your ocean!