04/19/22

Earth Day CLeanup with the Phoenix Suns & Footprint

In celebration of Earth Day, we teamed up with the Phoenix Suns and Footprint for a land & water cleanup of Butcher Jones Recreation Area and Saguaro Lake on the Tonto National Forest - Mesa Ranger District. Click HERE to view a video from the event on Footprint’s website, scroll to Earth Day 2022 & click the video.

Volunteers helped us remove 282.70 pounds of trash! Most of the trash volunteers removed was micro trash left behind over the busy Easter holiday weekend. We found plastic Easter eggs, plastic Easter basket grass, glitter & confetti, tiny plastic carrots, plastic bags, red solo cups, beer bottles & cans, plastic bottles & cups, straws, pieces of a broken styrofoam coolers, chip bags, wrappers, receipts, boxes & packaging from water floats, plastic forks & spoons, clothing, shoes, flip flops, and much more! Volunteers also picked up after a gender reveal party left blue confetti all over ground in the picnic area.

Volunteers also had the opportunity to pick up trash from Saguaro Lake. Our friends at REI Co-op’s Arizona Adventure Center donated the use of 10 tandem kayaks so that volunteers could pick up trash from the water. Volunteers found a sleeping bag in the lake, clothing, shoes & flip flops, wrappers, bottles, a piece plastic grass carpeting, blankets, towels, and much more.

Thank you to everyone from the Phoenix Suns & Footprint for helping us make a positive impact on the Butcher Jones Recreation Area and Saguaro Lake! ⁠

Thank you to everyone at U.S. Forest Service Tonto National Forest - Mesa Ranger District for their support of this event! ⁠

click a photo to view full size image

Photos courtesy of CVC Photography

We would like to thank our friends from REI Co-op’s Arizona Adventure Center for bringing 10 tandem kayaks for volunteers to use while they removed trash from Saguaro Lake.