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Her454
01-13-2006, 04:08 PM
Sorry if this is a duplicate post but the info is good.
Organizers of Saturday's cleanup at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area believe it will be bigger and better than ever because of increased cooperation across the region.
When you invite several thousand visitors over for a party such as the Dec. 26, 2055 holiday gathering in the dunes shown here, there's bound be a need for a cleanup. The annual dunes cleanup is scheduled for this weekend.
"We're getting community support, that's the big thing. Instead of just the offroaders, we've got the support of these communities," said Jarrod Bullard, the organizer of the south dunes cleanup.
The United Desert Gateway, a nonprofit organization made up of the chambers of commerce for Yuma, El Centro and Brawley, is one of the main sponsors of the event.
Ken Rosevear, executive director of the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce, said chamber involvement means more help and, ultimately, a cleaner recreation area. "It just gives more structure to the event," he said. "It's a huge undertaking."
Rosevear said chamber members have provided raffle prizes and food at a discounted rate. They will also turn out to help, which Rosevear will be doing Saturday.
Bullard did not have an estimate for how many volunteers there would be. Rosevear expected 3,000 to 3,500. "We've got enough T-shirts for 4,000 people," Bullard said. "After this year, we should have solid numbers."
The cleanup starts at 8 a.m. PST. There is no preregistration — people just need to show up at one of six signup locations, get their free T-shirt and trash bags and start grabbing litter.
"They can bring gloves if they want," Bullard said. "Those are always a big help."
The signup locations for the north dunes are at Wash Road and the vendor rows at Glamis Flats and Gecko Road. In the south dunes, people can sign up at Ogilby Camp and the vendor rows at Buttercup and Gordon's Well.
The cleanup lasts until 11:30 a.m. PST with lunch following. The raffle is held at 12:30 p.m. PST. Lunch and raffles will be held at Glamis Flats and Gordon's Well.
Every filled trash bag that is returned is worth an extra raffle ticket for prizes that include paddle tires, racing fuel, goggles, gift certificates and others.
In addition to UDG, the event is being sponsored by KD Cycle of Yuma and True Excitement, a San Diego company Bullard heads. Kathy Godley of KD Cycle is the organizer for the north dunes cleanup.
2006 marks the first year that organizers for the north and south cleanups have worked together on one event.
Bullard said, unfortunately, the cleanup is very necessary. He said that UDG and the American Sand Association have been emphasizing the "pack it in, pack it out" message to decrease garbage in the dunes, but plenty of trash ends up there.
"We're trying to hammer that (message) home, so we don't have to do stuff like this," Bullard said.

SurfOnH20
01-13-2006, 06:02 PM
I think a Lake Havasu version of this would be nice. It the least we can do since so many people leave so much $hit around when they leave the beaches..