Connecticut Water Trails Association
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Connecticut Water Trails Association |
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Connecticut Water Trails Program Organizing A Water Trails Cleanup Recruiting Help
Anyone
can participate in a your water trail cleanup. Participants
can include:
Get creative in finding volunteers and reach out to folks who may not
already be active in protecting
your river and watershed. Invite area businesses and industries, the
local newspaper, television and radio stations, and local government
agencies to send a work crew to the cleanup. Contact civic
organizations. Pitch this as a FUN event, and make it festive by linking
it to a raffle or by giving out prizes to volunteers (e.g. “Most Trash
Picked”, “Oddest Find”, etc.)
Having selected your water trail, you can write your description of the
cleanup and post it. If you have selected a water trail popular with
local paddling groups, you can ask them to post the information to their
membership. However, all to often you will need to encourage folks to
join your cleanup. You can and should advertise your water trail cleanup
and its importance in local outdoor club newsletters, call and
personally invite people to join you, and you can write personal notes.
Postcards with a personal note, sent to a wide assortment of potential
outdoor clubs, have proven to be a very successful recruiting tool.
Here's a sample letter to members of a paddling group:
April 10, XXXX
Dear Paddler,
I know that you have paddled the Wonderful River several times in the
past few years. As you know we are having a cleanup there on the weekend
of May 3-4. We could really use your help. Won't you please join with us
and help us payback the debt we owe this water trail so that we, and
others, can continue to enjoy it. Please register for our trip - call me
at 000-000-0000.
Thanks, You may want to add a line to the note that says, "The community of Whatever is having its Water Trail Cleanup that weekend and is looking forward to working with the “club name”."
Have volunteers sign in at the start of the day, and
sign liability waivers. Point out the first aid station, and review
safety precautions. Team Captains should remind volunteers the ending
time and the designated meeting area. Prepare maps of the area to pass out to volunteers.
Divide the site into work areas and identify these on the maps. For large cleanups, designate zone captains to
supervise work crews. Assign volunteer crews to work in specific areas and
arrange for their transportation to and from the work areas. Keep track
of the areas being covered. Supply work crews with large, sturdy trash bags and
inform them where to take the filled bags for pickup. If you are
collecting recyclables, have one crew member collect only recyclables in
a separate bag to facilitate sorting afterwards. If you wish to track the types of garbage found,
provide crews with forms to record their findings. Tracking the type of
garbage collected (e.g. plastic, glass, paper, Styrofoam, metal, rubber,
cloth) provides useful information for designing future programs to
reduce waste along the river. Take before, during and after photographs.
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