To: Members of the Castle Rock Water Commission
From:
Mark Marlowe, P.E., Director of Castle Rock Water
Sandi Aguilar, Customer Relations Program Manager
Title
2021 Spring Up the Creek Results
Town Council Agenda Date: NA
Body
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Executive Summary
Spring Up the Creek has become a tradition for Castle Rock and draws community volunteers every year to preserve our waterways by removing trash that collects along the stream banks. After canceling the event in 2020, the event returned on Saturday, May 1, 2021. To strengthen the focus on our regional stormwater group, CLEAR, we incorporated their motto “We depend on you” as our theme. Community Relations came up with a gorgeous logo and graphic that incorporated this theme.
We had 178 community volunteers, the same number as we did in 2019. Parks, who we partner with and picks up the trash did not count the bags of trash. We assume it was around 89 (like 2019) and we had reports of several large items, most specifically building materials. There were 18 staff trail leaders from across several departments, with several family members also pitching in.
To maintain social distancing, the event was not headquartered at Festival Park, but instead volunteers assembled at specific trailheads. We expanded the routes from 7 to 10 trails throughout Town and volunteers were required to register and transport themselves to the designated trailhead. Staff was on hand at each location with bags, gloves and snacks.
The Town of Castle Rock hosted this event in partnership with Douglas County, Castle Pines Metro District, Chatfield Watershed Authority, and Plum Creek Water Reclamation Authority. A special thanks to our event sponsors including Burns & McDonnell, Dana Kepner, Enginuity, Jacobs, JRS Engineering, Muller, Starwood, and W. W. Wheeler & Associates, Inc. Total contributions came in at $3,550 which entirely covered the cost of the event. Through these sponsorships, the partners were able to offer breakfast, gloves and trash bags for the clean-up, and commemorative neck gaiter to volunteers, free of charge. Additionally, volunteers were provided donated bottled water from Allstate and tea from Castle Rock Nutrition.