08/17/25
lower salt river cleanup with Visit Mesa & ESTO
Through our partnership with Visit Mesa, the U.S. Travel Association’s Education Seminar for Tourism Organizations (ESTO) conference members joined us for a volunteer trash pickup & paddle event along the Lower Salt River on Saturday, August 18th as part of ESTO Cares, an initiative focused on giving back to host communities.
A group of 87 volunteers from ESTO canvased Sheeps Crossing Recreation Area on the Tonto National Forest and removed 172 pounds of trash! Volunteers spread out on land and water in search of trash after our safety briefing & game plan for the morning. No Snow Standup Paddleboards donated rentals & delivery of paddleboards and kayaks so that volunteers could paddle a section of the river, reaching trash volunteers on foot could not reach.
Volunteers found a lot of scattered trash, towels, clothing, hats, shoes, flip flops, bottles, cans, picnic trash (someone left a bag full of trash hanging in a tree next to the river & animals ripped it open, spreading trash), sunglasses, vape pens, and lots of micro trash, like cigarette butts, bottle tops, fishing line, confetti, toothpick flossers, pieces of wrappers and a lot more.
Thank you to everyone from Visit Mesa and ESTO Volunteers for helping us make a positive impact on the Tonto National Forest and the Lower Salt River!
Thank you to everyone at the U.S. Forest Service Tonto Nation Forest for their support of this event!
