Grant #296

2025 Great Community Clean-Up, Truckee River Clean-Up, Adopt-A-River Program, and Community Education Program

Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful promotes a sustainable community by conducting cleanups and beautification projects throughout the Truckee Meadows, while also educating community members and youths about environmental issues. This project will Allow KTMB to expand their major programs, the Great Community Cleanup,  and the Truckee River Cleanup. These cleanups not only focus on invasive weed and litter removal but also on educating volunteers and the community on watershed sustainability and waste reduction topics. Funding will also allow us to continue our smaller cleanup efforts such as Adopt-A-River and the Saturday Morning Cleanups while targeting new, and underrepresented groups. It is our focus to expand river-side cleanup efforts throughout underrepresented communities such as the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. Our goal is to build lasting relationships with these communities while helping to protect parts of the river typically not targeted.

Funding for this project will allow our Sustainability Education Team to present watershed, invasive weed, and waste reduction topics at our major cleanups, as well as provide service learning opportunities at our Adopt-A-River and Saturday Morning Cleanups, as well as larger community/educational events.

KTMB’s Annual Great Community Clean-Up and Truckee River Clean-Up will:

  • Work with partners to monitor river hotspots for invasive weeds;
  • Engage volunteers to remove nonpoint source pollution and invasive and noxious weeds at several hotspots along the Truckee River and its tributaries, as identified by KTMB’s Litter Index Survey, WSCD weed experts, and municipal partners;
  • Provide educational outreach and public service announcements in the community about environmental threats to the Truckee River and responsible river recreation and usage, and enhance marketing to increase volunteer participation; and
  • Survey event participants and compile analyzed results to determine the success and impact of the event.

KTMB’s Adopt-A-River program will:

  • Recruit new volunteers and manage existing volunteers to conduct clean-ups along the Truckee River;
  • Continue to conduct an annual Litter Index Survey to evaluate current river corridor cleanliness; and
  • Continue to conduct our Saturday Morning Cleanups while engaging underrepresented groups.

KTMB’s Community Education program will:

  • Continue community outreach through traditional and social media outlets with messaging about the health of the river and individual stewardship opportunities to improve water quality; and
  • Coordinate service learning events, community/educational presentations, and host community workshops to educate and empower the public to protect the Truckee River Watershed by reducing nonpoint source pollution and invasive and noxious weeds.

KTMB’s River Adjacent Litter Survey will:

  • Create a baseline of data points along the river corridor to monitor litter and invasive weed hotspots; and
  • Engage partners and volunteers in a new project monitoring the health of the river corridor.

TMWA Benefit:

IV: Reforestation and Revegetation Projects – This project will help improve watershed resiliency through the GCC, TRC, and Adopt-A-River cleanup and beautification programs. These cleanups will engage volunteers to remove invasive plants and replant native species at river-specific sites such as Lockwood park, Lake Park and Valleywood Park.

V: Support to Rehabilitation of Local Tributary Creeks and Drainage Courses – KTMB will support water quality improvement of local tributaries and drainages through the GCC, TRC, and Adopt-A-River clean-up programs. These events will engage hundreds of volunteers to remove tons of litter, invasive weeds, and green waste from multiple locations along the Truckee River Corridor and greater watershed.

VI: Stewardship and Environmental Awareness – This project will communicate and raise environmental awareness about water, water quality, and watershed protection by utilizing digital media and educational/community presentations and service learning events to educate residents and visitors about the importance of maintaining a healthy river; how noxious weeds negatively affect native plant communities; and how litter and pollution are harmful to humans, wildlife, plants, and the local environment, economy, and esthetics.

KTMB’s 2025 Great Community Clean-Up, Truckee River Clean-Up, and Adopt-A-River program will also support the following One Truckee River Management Plan objectives (see attached document for description): 2.1.b, 2.3.j, 2.5.b, 3.3.h, 3.4.b, 3.4.c, 3.4.e, 3.4.f.

KTMB’s Community Education efforts will also support the following One Truckee River Management Plan objectives (see attached document for description): 1.3.b, 2.1.j, 3.2.d, 3.2.f, 3.3.b, 3.3.e, 3.3.h.