Kiwanis sponsor another successful river clean-up

The kids were having water fights and the hot dogs and hamburgers were sizzlin' after the 13th annual Carson River Clean-up Saturday morning.

Sponsored by the Carson City Kiwanis, the event drew almost 200 volunteers from the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Carson High School's Naval Junior ROTC and more, according to Kiwanis President Ray Fredericks.

"This is good for the river and good for the community," he said. "Besides that, it's something we love to do."

The effort started in 1989, when three Kiwanis noticed the garbage strewn along the banks of the Carson River while fishing. Just a few volunteers gathered that first year, but the cleanup has grown and now several groups get into the act. Carson City provides mini-dump trucks to transport junk, Nevada State Parks provides a bus to transport volunteers and the Bureau of Land Management is a partner in the effort.

The Kiwanis also receive a $5,000 grant from the Bureau of Reclamation, the money was used to purchase park benches and picnic tables as well as T-shirts and lunch for participants.

On Saturday, clean-up crews were disbursed along Morgan Mill Road, Silver Saddle Ranch and Carson River Canyon. Another crew set the six benches and two picnic tables at Riverview Park and when it was all over, everyone had a tale to tell.

"We pulled out a big engine, over in (Carson River) Canyon," said Cody Stokes, a freshman at Carson High School and member of the Junior ROTC. "I didn't think I'd like this, but I got to work with a lot of good people. I also got to mess around with a lot of kids. It's been fun."

Just south of Mexican Dam on the east side of the Carson River, Ranger Mike Bailey of the Bureau of Land Management was beaming. With the junk gone and the cars barred from roads near the river's edge, he's planning on seeding the roadbeds with native grass mixtures and planting willows, to restore the riparian zone here and eventually, the sage should return.

"I'm really happy about this," he said. "It will be so pleasant to patrol this area on foot or horseback and not have to haul couches and refrigerators out."

For those who missed the fun this weekend, the Friends of the Silver Saddle Ranch are having a general cleanup Sept. 28. Volunteers are needed for general ranch work including trail maintenance, weeding, painting and cleaning the beaver dams.

Sign-ups start at about 8 a.m., the work commences at 9 a.m. and the barbecue starts at noon. The barbecue is free for those who worked and $5 for those who didn't.

Special tours, including lectures about the geology and history of the ranch will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. and anyone wanting to join the fun, is asked to call Nancy Bish at 884-1570.