The annual Kawkawlin River cleanup will be held on Saturday, June 4 in Bangor Township starting at 8 a.m. at Castaways. (MLive.com file photo)

BAY CITY, MI — Volunteers donning rubber boots, waders and work gloves will be scouring the Kawkawlin River in Bay County in a yearly effort to clean up their beloved waterway.

The annual Kawkawlin River cleanup takes place Saturday, June 4, in Bangor Township.

“It’s a great event and a great way to give back to this beautiful resource that we have,” said Bangor Township Supervisor Glenn Rowley.”

The event will kick off with a breakfast at 8 a.m. at Castaways, 940 Boy Scout Road. Volunteers will then be hitting both the water and land to clean up debris along the river and at Steih Park.

Organizers are looking for volunteers with boats to drag branches to the road ends. Volunteers can also bring shovels and rakes and work on the road ends.

The event, which is organized by the Kawkawlin River Watershed Association, is technically 28 years old but it was postponed in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organizers say the event has changed over the last two decades as people are littering less. Rowley said efforts have shifted from cleaning up junk left by people to cleaning up natural debris. In the early days of the event, Rowley said the event’s success was measured by how much material they collected.

“The amount of stuff and the sheer volume of stuff that we collected was very, very impressive,” he said. “We would have tons and tons of material, and that’s how we used to measure our success is how many tons that we carried out of there.”

He said 14 tons were collected at one point in time, and surprising items like a snowmobile and washing machine were found and pulled out of the river. Now, the larger items that are pulled out tend to be trees and branches, and the cleanup’s success is measured by how many people attend.

Past events have drawn more than 100 volunteers, and Rowley expects about that many this year.

The Kawkawlin River Watershed Association was formed in 1993 to promote and advocate for watershed issues in the Kawkawlin River basin such as recreation, safety, education about watershed issues, and the conservation and protection of water quality. To do so, the group sponsors several events and projects that increase appreciation of the Kawkawlin River.

Bay City investing in first responder training, recruitment with $70K in state funding

Bay City nonprofits could get up to $25K in COVID relief thanks to new grant program

Annual Bay City Father’s Day fly-in breakfast returning for 2022

Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement updated 5/1/2021).

© 2022 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.

Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.