Kiwanis sponsors Carson River cleanup for 15th year

Kiwanis of Carson City sponsored the 15th annual Carson River cleanup Saturday with the Boys Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Carson High NJROTC and many volunteers.

The Bureau of Land Management and Carson City Parks and Recreation Department helped organize volunteers to clean the area downstream from Deer Run Bridge.

The Carson City Sheriff's Department also assisted. CinderLite donated boulders to help block off-road vehicles from entering sensitive areas within the open space. T.E. Bertagnolli Co. donated use of a skip loader to place boulders and remove trash, and Southwest Gas Corp. provided volunteers and equipment to remove vehicles.

In the past, Kiwanis has received grants to sponsor the event and add improvements such as tree saplings, benches and picnic tables.

This year, the club went to its members to pay for the food, drinks and T-shirts.

Ron Bowman and Ray Frederick of Kiwanis passed out snack bars, hot dogs, hamburgers and water to volunteers.

Drug paraphernalia, couches, refrigerators, mattresses, cars, campers and garbage riddle the area.

Most of the rubbish is from squatters who live along the river. Periodically, the Sheriff's Department moves people out, but their trash is left. Animal Control captured a few stray dogs that were also left behind.

"It's a real shame that these people have to live like this, when other help is available. We estimate that 250 cubic yards of trash and eight abandoned vehicles were removed," said Bowman.

"All in all, the event went very well," said Frederick. "Our club was divided between this event and a yearly fund-raiser that we do at Fuji Park to provide dog owners with breakfast and lunch during their annual dog show. Both events were successful."