News Release Archive

Reclamation Invites Volunteers to Participate in the Great Sierra River Cleanup at New Melones Lake on Sept. 17, 2016

Media Contact: Shane Hunt, 916-978-5100, shunt@usbr.gov

For Release: September 08, 2016

SONORA, Calif. – On Saturday, September 17, the Bureau of Reclamation’s Central California Area Office is partnering with the Tuolumne County Land Trust, Tuolumne Resource Conservation District, Master Gardeners, and New Melones Lake Marina to hold the 2016 Great Sierra River Cleanup (GSRC) in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties. The cleanup will focus on sites around New Melones Lake in the Stanislaus River watershed as declining water levels expose trash and debris.

The public, organizations and local businesses are invited and encouraged to participate in the GSRC on September 17 from 9 a.m. to noon. To register, please contact Park Ranger Mike McGraw at 209-536-9094 (TTY 800-877-8339) or mmcgraw@usbr.gov. On-site registration and check-in will begin at 8 a.m. at the New Melones Lake Visitor Center, 6850 Studhorse Flat Road, Sonora.

Cleanup sites will be located in the Glory Hole and Tuttletown Recreation Areas, New Melones Lake Marina, and the Parrotts Ferry Area. Maps will be provided for these locations upon check-in, and volunteers will need to provide their own transportation. Volunteers should dress for the summer heat; bring snacks and water; wear a hat, sunscreen and sturdy shoes; and bring work gloves and trash grabbers, if possible. Participants requiring special accommodations should contact Reclamation as far in advance as possible.

The GSRC is the premier volunteer event focused on removing trash and restoring the health of waterways throughout the Sierra Nevada Region. This annual event is coordinated by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and held in conjunction with California Coastal Cleanup Day. For information on the GSRC, please visit http://www.sierranevada.ca.gov/our-work/rivercleanup.

This event supports the Department of the Interior’s Let's Move Outside! initiative, which was created to get kids and families to take advantage of America’s great outdoors, which abound in every community, city and town. For information on Let’s Move Outside!, please visit http://www.letsmove.gov/lets-move-outside.

For information on New Melones Lake, please visit http://www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/newmelones.

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The Bureau of Reclamation is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior and is the nation's largest wholesale water supplier and second largest producer of hydroelectric power. Our facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation opportunities, and environmental benefits. Visit our website at https://www.usbr.gov and follow us on Twitter @USBR; Facebook @bureau.of.reclamation; LinkedIn @Bureau of Reclamation; Instagram @bureau_of_reclamation; and YouTube @reclamation.