Cleaning Up The North Fork of the American River

In March of 2018 River Runners  discovered a trash problem on the  ‘Chamberlain Falls’ run on the North Fork of the American River near Auburn, California. The North Fork of the American River is a beautiful free flowing river that is usually spared from pollution due to the inaccessibility of its narrow gorges. Much of the trash had been washed downstream from mining camps near access points like Mineral Bar Campground during a recent high water event. River Runners organized a river clean up day and put the call out to other outfitters and private boaters to join in the clean up effort by contributing additional river guides and rafts.

On Monday April 16th river guides from River Runners, All Outdoors, Motherlode River Center and a handful of private rafters came together to spend the day collecting trash from the river. We wrangled sleeping bags, tarps, and tents from trees and picked up piles of plastic pipes, hoses, metal, and other trash from the banks of the river. The river was flowing high at 2000 cubic feet per second, and the rain was coming down and the temperature at a high of 45 but spirits remained high, and the group erupted in cheers every time a large piece of trash was collected.  

Much of the garbage was within the 4 miles of class IV rapids and as the trash cans filled they became quite cumbersome particularly when one raft got wrapped in the class IV rapid called Bogus Thunder. The crew worked tirelessly in the rain and cold, filling the boats before they even got to Ponderosa Bridge. Overall the clean up was a great success and River Runners is planning a follow up event to collect any trash that had to be left behind between Ponderosa Bridge and Upper Lake Clementine.

Participants:

Sarah Vardaro (River Runners -Vice President)

John Kosakowsky (River Runners – President)

Andrew Kosakowsky (River Runners – Guide)

Chris Wilson (River Runners – Guide)

Ben Hernandez (Motherlode River Center – Manager)

Erica Nelson (Motherlode River Center – Guide)

Luis Escobar (All Outdoors – Guide)

Tyler Tschirgi (All Outdoors – Guide)

Aaron Root (private boater)

Jeff Wasielewski (private boater)

Emily Donaldson (private boater)

Bryan Casey (private boater)