Alpine Historical and Conservation Society is gathering volunteers to participate in the I Love a Clean San Diego Creek to Bay clean up event happening April 23.
Non-profit I Love a Clean San Diego’s primary goals are to achieve a zero waste, litter-free, and environmentally engaged San Diego region. Alpine’s segment of this particular project focuses on Chocolate creek, a tributary of the San Diego river at the easternmost point of the county-wide event.
AHS President Tom Myers said the city has participated in the creek to bay cleanup for 20 years and it is important to keep that participation active.
“Our complete name is the Alpine Historical and Conservation society; we chose that back in 1962 when the society was first formed and our mission is not only to preserve history but to work on conservation of lands and buildings, and promote conservation in Alpine,” Myers said.
Local environmentalist Jon Green and AHS board member Bob Ring are spearheading the local segment of the clean up project that will focus on the John DeWitt museum property on Tavern Road.
“This event is kind of spring cleaning for the museum property and the section of Chocolate Creek that runs through that property. As a long time site captain up here, I Love a Clean San Diego reached out to me, said nobody was doing the clean up in Alpine this year and asked if I’d be interested. I reached out to Tom and Bob at AHS, asked if we could do an event at the museum, tidying up and pulling weeds as well as cleaning up the creek,” Green said.
Some people might ask how cleaning up a museum site ties in with the event, Green said, but “80% of trash that makes its way to the bay comes from inland sources” so the goal is to remove trash and invasive species from Alpine’s creeks, including the section of Chocolate creek that runs through the museum’s property, before they wash downstream.
“The clean up demonstrates to the larger community that Alpine is concerned about environmental stewardship and continues to play a role in keeping the environment clean and protected in East county. It’s kind of nice to be able to participate with greater San Diego on a project like this,” Myers said.
In addition to benefiting the watershed and county of San Diego, Green said, events like this benefit the local community.
“First, they benefit the environment by helping to keep our waterways clean and trash free right her. If you’re the neighbor downstream, this is trash that won’t wash down to you. The museum property catches a lot of trash coming off Tavern road in this part of the creek,” Green said.
By capturing the trash locally and getting it to the landfill or recycling eligible items, the local environment is cleaner. However, Green said, there’s also a benefit to volunteers.
“I’ve heard from people in the community who said they’ve been missing volunteer projects as stewards in their community. People have been craving that and this will help them get out, make a difference, keep the community clean,” Green said.
AHS is an all volunteer association, he added, and clean ups like this draw attention to the museum. “The museum is an amazing public resource that a lot of people don’t know about. This is a chance for people to discover what we have right here..
The museum will be open during the event with a few docents to share information and show people around,” Green said.
Anyone interested in volunteering is welcome to join in the event. Participants should wear comfortable, closed-toe shoes and sun protection, and bring their own bottle of water.
Visit www.cleansd.org for more information or contact Bob Ring at (619) 246-7708 with questions.
