Last week, on Monday, January 19th, interns from Pittsburg High School and Antioch High School joined volunteers for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Cleanup at Brentwood Creekside Park. These interns were all ready to go by 10am with gloves, grabbers, and trash bags, but they weren’t the only ones eager to get started. There were over 100 volunteers present at the cleanup, working together to collect litter around both the park grounds and the riparian environment bordering Marsh Creek.
Flowing along the length of the park, Marsh Creek provides the surrounding neighborhood with access to the natural world. It is also a critical body of water for local fish and wildlife populations, which is why it is so important to keep the creek clean of harmful litter and illegal dumps. By the end of the event at noon, there was a huge pile of buckets and bags of litter that accumulated to 134 pounds of trash collected from the creek and park.
Some notable mentions of litter that the interns recovered include a fire extinguisher and part of an electric scooter, along with many food wrappers, cigarette butts, and bottles. Special kudos to interns Jimmy and Manvi from Pittsburg High School for pulling an entire shopping cart out of the creek. And similar thanks to interns Jonny, Kaden, and Adrian from Antioch High School for hauling a waterlogged tire back to the event tent and not being afraid to get dirty in the process.
Outside of this cleanup, there were many people at the park that morning who came to play frisbee golf, walk their dogs, or just enjoy the outdoors. It was great to see that these efforts to clean up the park would be appreciated by the environment and people alike.
The event hosts, Contra Costa Country Flood Control and Water Conservation District, Contra Costa Resource Conservation District (CCRCD) and East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) did a great job of organizing the volunteers and distributing supplies. They not only helped further connect Earth Team interns with volunteers from the Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed, but also encouraged collaboration between the other volunteers, like families, students, girl scout troops, and even the Mayor of Brentwood!
Thank you so much to these organizations for planning this day of service, and to the volunteers for making such a positive impact on the local environment. Earth Team is also very grateful to the Whale Tail Grants Program funded by the California Coastal Commission for helping us give this experience to our interns.
