September 20, 2007

Citizens clean up Los Alamitos Creek

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

Coinciding with Coastal Cleanup Day Saturday, local residents organized a cleanup of Los Alamitos Creek gathering old computers, bottles, cans, tires, a terrarium, a mattress and other throwaways.

Friends of Los Alamitos Watershed [FOLAW] are a group working in conjunction with Coastal Cleanup Day, San Jose County Parks and the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s Adopt-A-Creek. Here, the volunteers gather around a collection of trash gathered from Almaden Reservoir on Saturday. Photo by Mike Boulland

Friends of Los Alamitos Watershed [FOLAW] are a group working in conjunction with Coastal Cleanup Day, San Jose County Parks and the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s Adopt-A-Creek. FOLAW was established last year on June 1.

The members’ vision is to support the Los Alamitos Watershed community and public agency creek protection and restoration projects where they are the most significant for the total community benefit. The FOLAW board of directors is composed of Mike Boulland, Kitty Monahan, Michael Cox, Sandra Soto, Richard Dill, Roberta Lamons, Ronald Soto and Claire Teel.

“We decided to have the creek cleanup days because of the need of a mediator,” said FOLAW organizer Mike Boulland. “We take no sides and just want to cleanup the area for the benefit of the community. Our goal is to be a clearing house and to inform the public of what is happening.”

Trash continues to be improperly thrown away, ending up in Los Alamitos Creek. FOLAW cleaned up the area on National River Cleanup Day on May 19. Boulland and 73 other concerned citizens picked and hauled 14,000 pounds of trash and 7,350 pounds of recyclables two miles from Almaden Way up Almaden Road to Hicks Road ending on Mount Umunhum Road. Mid-Peninsula Open Space District opened the area for access and supplied a ranger to help.

Last Saturday, volunteers filled 90 bags with an estimated 2,000 pounds of trash. New Almaden Quicksilver Park maintenance staff member Drew Merry disposed of the collected trash. The Los Alamitos Creek represents one of nine designated site cleanup areas in Santa Clara County.

David O’Neal and daughters Amanda and Robyn team up to collect trash at Almaden Reservoir Saturday. Photo by Mike Boulland

California Coastal Cleanup Day was first organized in 1985 by the California Coastal Commission when 2,500 residents joined the community-based cleanup. Since then, the reach of the Coastal Cleanup Day has spread inland. Most debris found on beaches actually starts as urban trash or street litter.

Boulland was pleased with the families with children who participated in Saturday’s cleanup, saying “their little hands can find things the adults cannot.” New Almaden resident Robbie Lamons told the kids stories of the history of the area while they learned the benefits of volunteering.

“We formed the group to keep the Los Alamitos Creek clean,” said Monahan. “We don’t go on private property, but concentrate on cleaning the creek and Almaden Reservoir at the twice-yearly event. We appreciate all the volunteers, but would like to see high school kids volunteering for their community service hours and the Boy Scouts for their badges.”

For more information regarding Coastal Cleanup Day, visit www.cleanacreek.org. For more information regarding Friends of Los Alamitos Watershed [FOLAW], contact Mike Boulland at mikeboulland@yahoo.com or (408) 268-2703.