
The Environmental Committee works to protect the watershed and to educate the public on forestry issues, erosion control, hazardous waste, recycling, and other issues. We also monitor government policies and procedures.
PG&E is a high priority for the Environmental Committee due to its massive and destructive felling of trees to prevent wildfires when unsafe, unreliable, antiquated equipment is the fundamental cause of the fires. From working on legislation and a new Franchise Agreement for PG&E in the County to in-depth research and analysis to support work with agencies affecting PG&E and helping folks protect their trees from PG&E’s contractors, this keeps the group busy. We work with a State-wide Utility Wildfire Prevention Taskforce on these issues.
Your help is needed.
Visit https://endpowerlinefires.com for more information.
River & Road Clean Up
with Save Our Shores
Annual Environmental Town Hall
Felton Community Hall
First Saturday of the month
Second Saturday if the first Saturday is a holiday weekend.
10:30 am at VWC Office at Highlands Park Senior Center
On Zoom and in-person. Email for Zoom info.
Meetings are open to the public.
Call 338-6578 or email for information.
Become a Member
or Make a Donation!
The 30th Annual SLV River & Road Clean Up was both successful and unusual. The number of children working to remove trash and recyclables from along the waterways outnumbered adults for the first time! More family groups and over 30 Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts (including Troop 604, and Pack 654 in Felton, and Pack 623 in Boulder Creek) made the difference. This showed in the weight and types of materials, like 12 zip-lock bags packed with cigarette butts and fewer large items brought into the sign-in/weigh-in stations. Even so, messy mountains of junk were accumulated along roadsides for pick-up by volunteers and by the dedicated County Public Works and SLV Water District’s truck drivers.
A total of 146 volunteers, ranging in age from pre-school to 90-plus, participated in the Clean-up. The event has been organized by The Valley Women’s Club since 1986, partnering with Save Our Shores for the past eight years. Over 4200 pounds of trash, plus over 1000 pounds of recyclable materials, were retrieved that otherwise would have contaminated the River and its wildlife on the way to the Bay. A 30th-anniversary celebration also took place at the Covered Bridge Park, with fresh popcorn (thanks to the Felton Fire popcorn machine) and relay races.
Special kudos go out to the leaders of Troop 604 and Packs 654 and 623, along with the many caring parents who want their children to care for and take responsibility for the health of their watershed. Other adults like Dustin Cochran (who has brought in huge truck-loads of trash from along Bear Creek Rd. for many years), and to Jen Mount and the team of Allison and Natalie, who hand-hauled hundreds of pounds of materials from along Zayante Creek.
Several dozen photos of the event, featuring many of the volunteers, and some remarkably awful trash, are posted on the Valley Women’s Club’s Facebook page and give a real feel for the event!
Each resident of the San Lorenzo Valley can help make every day River & Road Clean Up Day by removing the trash from along their road frontage or from the pull-outs along Hwy 9 and other major roads. Don’t wait for a year to help protect your waterways and their wildlife from the impacts of cigarette butts, plastics, and other debris contamination. It’s everyone’s job!