Texas State University students will fan out across the San Marcos area on Saturday, March 1, for the 40th Annual Great Texas River Cleanup. The semiannual Keep San Marcos Beautiful event brings together hundreds of community volunteers to pick up trash in the San Marcos River watershed.
TXST students play a key role in the river cleanups, comprising from 95% to 99% of the event’s volunteer base, says Amy Thomaides, community enhancement initiatives manager for the City of San Marcos’ Resource Recovery Department. At last spring’s event, more than 800 volunteers collected 16,810 pounds of trash, 2,944 pounds of recyclables, and 70 tires.
Peyton Austin, an environmental health and safety specialist at Texas State, heads up the Bobcat volunteer efforts for the Great Texas River Cleanup. He says the events help show how TXST impacts the river, which starts at the San Marcos Springs on campus and flows through Sewell Park.
I think it helps change perceptions about what you can control and understanding that any trash in your area can end up in the street, which ends up in the drain, which ends up in Purgatory Creek, which ends up in the San Marcos River, he says.
TXST students can volunteer through participating student organizations—such as the Environmental Conservation Organization, Human Environmental Animal Team, and the Bobcat Stream Team—or volunteer individually. Volunteers can sign up by clicking on a specific watershed on this city map. Texas State coordinates the cleanup of Sessom Creek, which runs through campus, and Willow Creek, though students volunteer for any of the 10 different watersheds across San Marcos.
“Having the annual river cleanups twice a year helps us identify areas of litter concentration for future cleanup and stops litter before it makes its way to the San Marcos River,” says Thomaides, a Bobcat alum. “In addition to having people help pick up litter, engaging with TXST students and staff helps to instill pride in our community and promote stewardship for the health of the river.”
