Springing into a Record Cleanup
On Saturday May 20th, the sun was out and the smell of sunscreen was in the air. It was a beautiful day to come together as a community and cleanup our watershed.
115 volunteers collected trash from thirteen various sites within the Lower Gallatin Watershed. These incredible volunteers removed 1, 380 pounds of trash from entering our waterways right before peak runoff. When cleaning up fishing access sites, parks and other recreation areas, some unique items can be found. The winner of the “strangest thing” went to the person who found a fake million dollar bill with Jesus’ face on it. Another person’s trash is another person’s treasure… But in this case it was removed from our waterways and disposed of properly!
Trash that enters our waterways can affect water quality, endangers plants and animals, and pollutes the outdoors spaces that we recreate and get our drinking water from. Visible trash eventually will break down into microplastic particles. This can cause various negative environmental impacts, human health concerns, and ecological disruption.
We are so beyond proud, thankful, and in awe of our community for working together for clean water. All of the hard work and beautiful weather called for a fun filled celebration at Story Mill Park.
The celebration was full of laughter, smiles, music, and more. The cleanup and celebration could not have been possible without our amazing event sponsors. The Madison Gallatin chapter of Trout Unlimited provided financial support for the cleanup/celebration. Backcountry Burger Bar fed many, hungry volunteers some yummy burgers, pizza, and pasta. Bozeman Brewing Company made sure our volunteers were hydrated. Voormi and Yellow Dog Flyfishing provided prizes and goodies for volunteers. Eco Montana provided compostable plates and cutlery, Happy Trash Can provided composting services, and Republic Services provided landfill and recycling services.
The amount of trash picked up, volunteers, and sites were all record beaters for our Spring Watershed Cleanup! We hope to see everyone back out in the fall, for another cleanup.