Hundreds wade into Johnson Creek during annual ‘Clean-Up’

Published 12:00 am Sunday, September 29, 2024

Ever since Johnson Creek Watershed Council (JCWC) volunteers got involved in an in-water effort started in 2010 by current co-organizer Melanie Klym, wading the water to find and remove trash has become an annual late summer tradition.

This year, Saturday, August 17 was the date chosen for the Johnson Creek Clean-up. Volunteers began arriving at 8:45 a.m. at their choice of the dozen sites to be cleaned up that day along the creek.

This year, our tour of the Johnson Creek Clean-up began at Tideman Johnson Park at the S.E. 45th Avenue trailhead, where the Friends of Tideman Johnson Park were being briefed by Marianne Colgrove.

Next, we found a large contingent of volunteers meeting at Johnson Creek Park along S.E. 21st Avenue in Sellwood, where they slogged through the water at the confluence of Johnson Creek and Crystal Springs Creek.

A sizeable band of creek-cleaners dutifully packed out trash along S.E. Johnson Creek Boulevard at Bell Road. Again this year, volunteers were working further upstream along S.E. Luther Road while others started on S.E. 82nd Avenue of Roses to work their way both upstream and downstream.

As in the “old days” before the coronavirus pandemic, all of the volunteers who cared to do so gathered back at Johnson Creek Park around the noon hour, where they were treated to hearty warm tamales and cold beverages while sharing their experiences with one another.

Participation grows

“Since the pandemic, we’d noted a drop in the number of volunteers coming out; so, seeing many more of our ‘creek-cleaners’ coming out this year made for a real feeling of community and coming together – it felt really special this year,” commented JCWC Volunteer Program Manager Marlee Eckman afterwards.

“In fact, we had 170 volunteers at this year’s Johnson Creek Clean-up – and together, they removed 4.9 tons of trash from this urban waterway,” Eckman said.

“Removing trash from the creek is really important, from a water-quality standpoint,” Eckman told THE BEE. “Our main objective for this is to remove trash that is posing the most harm – anything that consistently is leaching toxins into the creek – to give salmon the best chance of survival.”

What won their “Golden Trash Can Award” for the most unusual item retrieved from the creek? By vote of the volunteers, this year it was a flashy pair of glitter disco shoes!

The JCWC holds volunteer events frequently. Find out what they’re doing this weekend by checking their website – http://www.jcwc.org

And now, if you have a moment, this brief, exclusive BEE VIDEO takes you along on this late summer cleanup adventure along Johnson Creek – https://youtu.be/ZdoqwUwD89c