Let’s get down and dirty.
Saturday, April 12th, 2014
Clean-Up: 9:00 a.m. to noon (coordinates above)
It's time to join with our fellow cachers around the country and clean up our neighborhoods. This CITO clean-up day (April 12th) is the same day as the local Creek Week Clean-Up Day in Sacramento County. Creek Week is organized every year by the Sacramento Area Creeks Council and the geocaching community has participated in various locations over the past ten years with locations in Orangevale and others. I know there is a CITO organized for April 26th in Rio Linda and one in Auburn on April 27th. It is not my intent to pull volunteers from those CITOs, but sometimes schedules work for some days and not other days so I hope you can participate in one of the events.
Last April (and September) we did a great job making a huge dent in the trash that Morrison Creek and Laguna Creek wash down into Beach Lake (see photos). The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy was so impressed that with our ability to handle the tough terrain that they asked us to do it again this year.
Beach Lake is the confluence of Morrison Creek and Laguna Creek and the trash that gets into those two creeks tends to stop in Beach Lake because it is a wide flat spot barely above sea level (15 feet) and flows tend to slow down. The prevailing wind from the south tends to push the litter to the north shore which is one of the location we will be deployed. The terrain is a challenge because the slope of the levee is steep and covered with rip-rap.
As far as I know, this area has never been cleaned up before (except by the two previous CITOs) and only because of the geocachers is this location being added to the areas being cleaned in the County due to the difficult terrain.
The clean-up is occurring in two locations along Lower Morrison Creek. One area is called Rocky Banks and the other is called Shallow Crossing. Shallow Crossing has easy terrain and would be suitable for those of us who don’t like climbing over rip-rap. When you arrive at the coordinates, signs will direct you to the two locations; you pick which location you want to volunteer at.
Beach Lake is part of the Bufferlands around the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant and has become habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. The area we will be cleaning up is off limits to the public except during organized bird watching events and other tours. (No caches can be hidden in the clean-up area.) More info on the Bufferlands can be found here http://www.srcsd.com/buffer-overview.php
The coordinates for the sign that send you to the clean-up location is:
N38 28.055
W121 29.667
Trash bags will be provided. An advantage of being a part of the Creek Week Clean-up is that a dump truck will be available and we just need to get the trash bags and shopping carts and other large items from the shore up to the levee road.
Rules: To log as a find, show up, sign in, and clean from 9 to noon. You will also need to sign the Creek Week sign-in sheet (using a real name).
T-Shirts: If you sign-up in advance on this web page and include your t-shirt size, you will get a Creek Week t-shirt.
Checklist (From Creek Council – I know these will be obvious to geocachers.)
Comfortable, washable clothes
Long pants and long sleeves
Hat and sunscreen
Gloves (work or gardening type)
Shoes that can get wet and muddy
Waterproof boots (optional)
Grabbing tool (optional) (Home Depot usually has these for around $20)
All children must be with a responsible adult. There can be hidden hazards in the debris, plus water and slippery stream banks can be hazards. If you bring a child, your most important job is to supervise and keep them safe. Collecting trash is secondary for adults in charge of children. Thank you for making it possible for them to have this experience.
Here are the links to some of the previous years if you want to look at the photos that were posted (or just to take a quick trip down memory lane): 20132011 2007 2006 2005