For the 37th time, volunteers gathered throughout Fort Worth to remove trash as part of the citywide Cowtown Great American Cleanup on March 26.
Kayaks dotted the Trinity River as volunteers sought to surpass last year’s total of more than 100,000 pounds of trash collected in a single morning. Organizers estimated 4,000 volunteers participated in the cleanup, said Laurie Stelljes, the vice chair of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club.
This marked the second year that Teresa Patterson, co-owner of Adventures Unlimited Paddling Company and the paddle trail manager for the Trinity Coalition, provided boats and guidance to cleanup participants behind the Ol’ South Pancake House on University Drive.
Marine Creek Collegiate High School’s Green Club helps clean the Trinity River during the Cowtown Great American Cleanup event on March 26. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Marine Creek Collegiate High School Green Club members kayak back to shore with trash bags on March 26. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
The Trinity Coalition Trinity River National Water Trail Manager Teresa Patterson guides Marine Creek Collegiate High School Green Club members out the Trinity River on March 26. The Green Club had six students help clean up. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
The Trinity Coalition Trinity River National Water Trail Manager Teresa Patterson pulls Marine Creek Collegiate High School Green Club members’ kayak out of the river on March 26. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
The Trinity Coalition Trinity River National Water Trail Manager Teresa Patterson pulls Marine Creek Collegiate High School Green Club members’ kayak out of the river on March 26. The club members switched out with three more club members. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
The Trinity Coalition Trinity River National Water Trail Manager Teresa Patterson gives Marine Creek Collegiate High School Green Club members instructions on March 26. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
The Trinity Coalition Trinity River National Water Trail Manager Teresa Patterson helps Marine Creek Collegiate High School Green Club members out of a kayak on March 26. The Trinity Coalition had members and volunteers cleaning the river in kayaks. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
The Trinity Coalition Trinity River National Water Trail Manager Teresa Patterson asks for help pulling Marine Creek Collegiate High School Green Club members’ kayak out of the river on March 26. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Marine Creek Collegiate High School Green Club members clean up trash on March 26. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
The Cowtown Great American Cleanup on March 26 had over 4,000 volunteers citywide, Laurie Stelljes, the vice president of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club, said. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
The Cowtown Great American Cleanup is a citywide effort to collect litter and beautify the city. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Trash lines the Trinity River on March 26. The Cowtown Great American Cleanup intended to beautify the city. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Trash bags full of litter sit on the pavement on March 26. Volunteers cleaned trash up around the city during the Cowtown Great American Cleanup. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Volunteers with the Tarrant Regional Water District clean trash up along the Trinity River. Trash is thrown in bags and put in a collection trailer. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
A van with a trailer collects trash bags on March 26. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Trash piles up in a trailer on March 26. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Volunteers clean up trash along a woody area on March 26. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Volunteers pick trash up off the ground on March 26. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
A volunteer picks up trash inside bushes on March 26. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)
“One of the challenges is that there’s trash on the water that’s hard to get to for all the people who volunteer on the land,” Patterson said. “Starting last year, at the Sierra Club’s behest, we got together and decided that we could help fix that by providing discount boats to get people on to the water.”
Patterson helped beginners get on to the Trinity and learn the basics of paddling on flat water. Members of the North Texas River Runners, a whitewater paddling group, took on a more complicated stretch of the river.
Stelljes has advocated for more litter education as an executive board member of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club and participated in several Cowtown Cleanup events. The city recently purchased seven “water goats,” or barriers, that collect trash at different points on the Trinity, Stelljes said.
A crew hired by UpSpire, which employs people experiencing homelessness, is responsible for picking up the trash every two weeks, she added.
“What they’re trying to do is put a goat at the end of all the tributaries that lead into the Trinity,” Stelljes, who serves on the board of Keep Fort Worth Beautiful, said. “That is going to be huge because the bulk of the trash that you see comes in from all these tributaries.”
This won’t be the last trash cleanup event on the river this spring. Registration is open for the Tarrant Regional Water District’s Spring Trash Bash on April 23.
All trash collected at events between March 1 and May 31 will be counted in the North Texas Community Cleanup Challenge hosted by the North Central Texas Council of Governments. The city of Fort Worth won the first-ever challenge last fall.
Cristian ArguetaSoto is the community engagement journalist at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him by email or via Twitter.
Haley Samsel is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Her position is supported by a grant from the Marilyn Brachman Hoffman Foundation. Contact her by email or via Twitter.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, by following our guidelines.
