One by one, cars were parked on the dirt patch alongside the Santa Clara River, near the Wiley Canyon Road and Orchard Village Road intersection, to participate in the 30th anniversary of the Annual River Rally Cleanup and Environmental Expo on Saturday.
Hosted by the city of Santa Clarita, families, students and anyone who wanted to participate grabbed a large, orange bag with the incentive to come back with trash scattered throughout the dry riverbed — prior to the wet, winter months.
More than 25 booths were set up with family-friendly games in the Environmental Expo, which discussed topics such as sustainability, pollution and watershed protection; the Castaic Animal Care Center was also onsite, with adoptable dogs ready to be picked up with waived adoption fees.
Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste welcomed the crowd of excited attendees at precisely 8 a.m.
“Good morning, thank you all for being here. We’ve been working on saving this river, cleaning up our environment and picking out areas to increase trails for 30 years, and this event has just been an incredible benefit to the community because of the community,” Weste said. “500,000 pounds of trash and debris have been removed in many years out of the Santa Clara River.”
According to Weste, the Santa Clara River is a main source of water for residents, while also having “tributaries and wildlife corridors.”
“I just want you to know that when you’re cleaning out debris, you’re helping save endangered species because they reside in our tributaries and our rivers, and it’s a really important part of the whole ecosystem of Santa Clarita,” Weste said.
Weste also recognized the “Eco Chicos,” a group of Canyon High School students who come every year with Dennis Yong, an environmental advisor and AP environmental science teacher.
“Eco Chicos from Canyon High School have been doing this for the past [12] years. We always come out and collaborate with the city. We have a large group here, so we know that we can make an impact,” Yong said. “About 12 years ago, we had a group of passionate students wanting to help out the environment, and they asked me to be the advisor. They were creative with coming up with the name, and we just kept the name up.”
As an environmental advocate, Yong said that the most rewarding part is to inspire his students to “take care of their planet.”
“For the students, they have the opportunity to partake in really making a difference in their local community. We can think about the global impact, but we have to act here locally. [Past students] have told me that when they go out and see litter on the floor, they start picking up the trash,” Yong said. “I think we all should be environmental stewards of the local environment. We all can chime in and take care of our own backyard.”
Katherine Saucedo, 10, along with her mother, Natasha, participated in her third River Rally as a member of Scouting America Cub Scout Pack 48 in Canyon Country.
“We found out about this event through our Pack, and we do this every year as a part of our community service. The kids enjoy it. They like going in the river and picking up trash and getting a little dirty. So it’s a lot of fun,” Natasha said.
“I really like using these trash picker-uppers because they’re really fun to scoop the trash up,” Saucedo said. “I think this is important to do so the river doesn’t fill up with trash and it can stay beautiful.”