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Are you ready to celebrate the 4th of July with a purpose? Gather your friends and head outside to participate in a watershed wide effort to preserve our recreation areas. After the holiday, these areas experience high usage and tend to accumulate excess litter. Our goal is to clean-up this litter before it floats downstream, ensuring the cleanliness and beauty of our waterways for all to enjoy.
By volunteering your time, you can directly contribute to reducing waste and safeguarding the well-being of our local wildlife. The presence of litter attracts animals that can leave behind harmful bacteria like E. coli in the water, posing risks to both humans and wildlife. Let’s demonstrate our dedication to the environment and create a positive impact on our community together.
So mark your calendars and gather your friends and family for this meaningful event that combines celebration and conservation. By embracing the spirit of independence, we can live with purpose and help our community thrive. Don’t forget to share your experience on social media using the hashtag #PurdyVerde. We look forward to seeing your posts and celebrating our collective efforts to keep our waterways clean, safe, and enjoyable!
Dates: Choose a day, July 4-9, 2023
Locations: Choose one from our map or anywhere near you
Photo credit: Kalai Kollus, Oak Creek Watershed Council
Participate as you wish based on weather conditions in your area.
Create your own team of volunteers to gather the week of July 4th and help clean-up parts of the Verde River. Please use this form to collect data for Arizona Water Watch about the site where you clean-up trash. Make sure to include “Purdy Verde” in your group name so that we know how many wonderful volunteers participated. If you share posts on social media, include the hashtag #PurdyVerde.
Once you are done with your clean-up and are back in cell service range, please visit this website to enter the data you collected on your clean-up.
The data you collect will be used to inform land managers about litter issues in the Verde Watershed so they can make appropriate planning decisions!
Photo credit: Kalai Kollus, Oak Creek Watershed Council
Here is a short video lesson going over how to collect your data in the field and enter it into the Arizona Water Watch Database.
What To Do
- Contact your friends and family to see who would like to participate with you.
- Pick your favorite spots to pick up trash. Need ideas for where to go? Check out this map.
- Safely pick up as much trash as possible!
- Share photos and/or videos by email to SupportUs@verderiver.org, or post them to social media using the hashtag #PurdyVerde.
- Keep track of the approximate weight of your trash haul, and how many hours you volunteered. The average full trash bag weighs ~15 lbs.
- Be sure to have a plan for transporting the trash you collect.
- Bring supplies that will keep you safe and hydrated.
- Wear gloves, supervise children, wash your hands often, and have fun!
- Fill out appropriate forms. Use this form while you are on-site. Use this form to log your information online.
What to Bring
- Gloves
- Trash bags
- Trash picker
- Water & snacks
- Tarp /straps (optional to secure trash in a truck bed)
- Hand sanitizer
- On-site form
What to Do With the Trash
The best option is to take it with you and dispose of it in your own household trash, as public trash bins can get pretty full. For oversized items that you cannot take, it would be helpful to leave them by bins, photograph them, and share them with Friends of the Verde River, or the land managers at your location.
Photo credit: Kalai Kollus, Oak Creek Watershed Council
