Members of Chico State fraternity Gamma Zeta Alpha cross the Union Pacific Railroad bridge over Big Chico Creek as they transport material from an abandoned homeless camp to the garbage in Chico, California, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. (Ed Booth/Enterprise-Record)
CHICO — With approximately 300 to 350 cleanup volunteers working hard to remove debris and non-native vegetation from Bidwell Park and Chico waterways, surfaces in those places might just show a brilliant shine.
They wouldn’t shine, of course, but they’d sure look a lot better. That was the goal of the 36th annual Bidwell Park and Chico Creeks Cleanup and Restoration Projects, which the Butte Environmental Council sponsored and organized — and judging by the work of these legions of volunteers, the project was a big success.
Miranda Kokoszka, BEC’s natural resources program manager, said that while “only” about 300-350 volunteers had checked in by about 9:30 a.m. Saturday, she was optimistic more would “trickle in” as the hours passed. The group had hoped for about 500 people, according to a press release promoting the event.
The good news is that there was a companion event — the Feather River Cleanup — taking place simultaneously in Oroville. “Some of the people who might have come to Chico stayed in Oroville and volunteered there instead,” Kokoszka said.
Oroville’s event featured a cleanup of the river from Riverbend Park and Bedrock Park, both near Highway 70, to the fish hatchery near Table Mountain Boulevard. That effort took place in preparation for the annual Salmon Festival, scheduled for next Saturday in Oroville.
In Chico, volunteers had the opportunity at check-in to select from various levels of difficulty for their cleanup projects, as well as locations. Categories available were “expert,” “family-friendly/easy,” “accessible,” “close to Hooker Oak Park,” “Chico State” and “invasive species removal.”
One bigger project involved cleaning along Big Chico Creek around Rio Chico Way and the Union Pacific Railroad outside Chico State University’s southeastern corner. It was in that area several homeless people and groups had moved following the city code enforcement “sweeps” in Depot Park, along Cedar Street; the park had been an encampment for more than 100 homeless people, mostly in tents.
Volunteers hauled out quite a few miscellaneous and sundry items — such as stray headboards, cushions, tables, pallets and carpeting, among many others — homeless people had apparently used in creating living quarters in the riparian zone.
“The (city) sweep pushed people into the waterways close to campus,” said BEC executive direction Patrizia Hironimus, who was stationed at the registration area at Hooker Oak Park. “That area needs extra attention — from people who have expertise in restoration and cleanup.”
Volunteers stood ready to collect trash from all cleanup crews, thanks to two very large garbage bins at Hooker Oak Park. Another bin waited for garbage at the Chico Municipal Center parking lot downtown. Cleanup crews picked up 45 cubic yards of garbage in the 2022 event.
A “specialty” cleanup took place at the Campfire Council Ring in Bidwell Park, just a stone’s throw away from Caper Acres playground. Near the ring was a large quantity of invasive vegetation, according to Ed Perez, who headed the group of nine volunteers.
“We’re working to remove invasive species — in this case, Himalayan blackberry — to improve the health of established plants, and reduce fire risk,” Perez explained. “We’re also removing ivy that grows on trees.
“If I see blackberry, we’re going to get it out,” he said.
William Baker, Jared Martino and Corey Fernandez, all of Chico, were busy removing blackberry vines when they extracted one that was about 25 feet long. They held it up and looked at it, impressed with the length, before adding it to a stack of vegetation that would ultimately be ground up for compost.
Back at Hooker Oak Park, Hironimus also showed off a table with coloring books and educational guides for young people, all with a theme of protecting the environment and conserving natural resources. Volunteers all received free t-shirts to commemorate their work.
