And the Cleanups Continue

November Coyote Creek Cleanup Another Success
By Deb Kramer

On a clear, balmy Saturday morning, we set up our tables, laid out our tools, and waited for them to come. And come they did! 

Just some of the trash collected at Yerba Buena

We partnered with the Santa Clara County Parks to host a cleanup in Hellyer Park's Cottonwood Lake area and with the Sierra Club to host the Yerba Buena Road site. All together, we had 153 volunteers remove 5.3 tons of trash. What a great job everyone did. You can see a lot of our photos on our Facebook page.

Old typewriter from the Creek

One volunteer from the Evergreen High School Interact Club said she liked "finding new old objects with mysterious stories." Here are a few of the interesting items we collected:

• BBQ
• 13 tires
• 9 shopping carts
• Typewriter
• Oven door
• Lots of rugs
• Lots of clothing
• Braided rug
• Bike frame
• A baby doll
• ID card
• Pictures of an old lady

The San Jose Conservation Corp provided us with some tools to dig up and remove items while the City of San Jose provided us with vests, gloves, litter sticks, and loads of bags to contain our smaller items. 

Over 200 bags of trash were collected, and that doesn't even count the large items, like chairs, futons, and tents. As volunteers brought trash up, some couldn't believe the amount of trash in the creek. One commented that "the trash is nasty, and people shouldn't put trash in water because it makes the fish die."

As one SJSU student put it, the most rewarding part was "Seeing the Change! Before and After shots!" Many of our volunteers indicated they "enjoyed meeting new people" 

Some of the groups that came out include:

• San Jose State students
• Sierra Club members
• Silver Creek, Evergreen, Piedmont Hills, Yerba Buena, Andrew Hill, and University Prep Academy high schools
• Clubs included SCAMS club, DZAM, Interact, and Key

Many of the high school students who attended got a sense of "the amount of trash people litter" and "how important it is to pick up after yourself." We are so glad that people can relate the trash in the creek to their everyday practices.

Just some of the 150 volunteers at the November cleanup

Without all these volunteers, we wouldn't be able to make as big an impact on the creek as we do. Thanks again for a job well done.

Rain or shine, we'll be out again in December. Please join us!

Coastal Cleanup Day a Mighty Success!

What a turnout for Coastal Cleanup Day this year! Restore Coyote Creek and the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter hosted its first Coastal Cleanup Day, not knowing exactly how wildly successful it would be. We had 150 volunteers and the Conservation Corp who helped collect 5.7 tons of trash over a nearly 1 mile stretch of creek from Tully Road south to Capitol Expressway. To put that amount of trash into perspective, this is the equivalent of 4 Mini Coopers in weight. 

Here is a sampling of what we collected:

• 600 bags of trash
• 100 articles of clothing
• 26 tires
• 12 shopping carts
• 10 bicycles

Some of the most unusual items included:

• Mop bucket and wringer
• 2 TVs
• Water cooler
• Darth Vader game controller
• Dart board
• Spanish Bible

We had people come representing so many different organizations: Sierra Club, Silver Creek High School, Yerba Buena High School, Andrew Hill High School, City Council District 7, McLaughlin Corridor Neighborhood Association, San Jose State University, and University Preparatory Academy. About 70 of the attendees were high school students. One of the adults "enjoyed working with the young people who are fantastic."

Many of the people were all smiles and commented on how much fun they had. One person said he was "interested to see how far the trash extends" into the creek. One group of students couldn't believe how many tires were in the creek..."tires, tires, tires!"  

Sonya Herrera, journalist at the Spartan Daily, wrote an excellent piece about the cleanup event, and interviewed many of the participants. You can read her article for more insights.