So far this year, our volunteers have removed 15+ pounds of fishing line from the Maumee River during Get the Lead Out clean-ups, plus more than 100 pounds of other marine debris. Sign up to GLO and help make our shores safer for wildlife and more welcoming for recreation.

GLO is our marine debris removal program targeting tangled line, lead sinkers, lures, and other fishing trash that could harm wildlife in the Maumee River. Weather and water-levels permitting, join us for one of these family-friendly clean-ups.

August GLO Dates:

• Sunday, August 14, 12-2pm – Buttonwood Park, Perrysburg Twp.
• Tuesday, August 23, 6-8pm – Blue Grass Island, Maumee

August CYS 365 Dates:

• Tuesday, August 16, 6-8pm – Walbridge Park, Toledo
• Sunday, August 21, 3-5pm – Cullen Park, Point Place

Fishing line collected by volunteers during our clean-ups is cleaned and recycled as much as possible.

Keep in mind that GLO is water-level dependent, since fishing line is often tangled in exposed roots and rocks, so we may need to move locations or cancel a session if an area is inaccessible due to high water. We’ve already relocated a couple programs this season due to high water on the Maumee. The best reason to register ahead of time is that we’ll be sure to send you an email 24-hours advanced warning if one of our programs needs to be relocated or cancelled. We’ll also post an update on our social media.

Volunteer science groups are critical for collecting water quality data. However, these groups often develop in response to local needs, and it can be challenging to coordinate efforts and share data across a larger region. One purpose for citizen science efforts to collaborate and share data together is to educate the public about the health of our local waterways better.

Thanks to a generous grant from Greater Toledo Community Foundation, we’ve now kicked off a multi-agency program called Community Water Action in Toledo (CWAT) that will streamline volunteer involvement in monitoring water quality in the western basin of Lake Erie. This grant allows PCS to connect partner organizations’ (Metroparks Toledo, TMACOG, Toledo Zoo, and Toledo Rotary) water monitoring programs by sharing training resources, engaging in volunteer outreach, aligning sampling protocols and methods, and evaluating program success.

Foundation funds enabled us to hire our water quality monitoring coordinator intern, Katarina Kieffer, to oversee these efforts. Cleveland Water Alliance will be providing local partners with additional sampling equipment and guidance. CWAT is the local hub for a Lake Erie region-wide effort of the Lake Erie Volunteer Science Network, led by Cleveland Water Alliance.

In future years, water monitoring will take place regularly from April – October. For this inaugural field season, Kat has started her work with PCS by collaborating closely with our partner organizations on creating a foundation for effective and efficient monitoring when the program officially kicks off in August. Monitoring efforts will focus initially on the Maumee and Ottawa river watersheds.

CWAT will be using the Lake Erie Baseline Assessment Framework (LEBAF), a set of standardized protocols developed with Cleveland Water Alliance for water quality monitoring. The LEBAF standards will guide sampling and reporting about our watersheds. These standards will also be used by all partners in the Lake Erie Volunteer Science Network, leading to a robust dataset covering the broader Lake Erie region. Citizen science can be a source of powerful information and community engagement, and creates new educational opportunities for involved volunteers to learn about how our waterways change over time.

For the past twenty-five years, Clean Your Streams has benefited from a dedicated planning team: a partnership representing multiple organizations, businesses, and municipalities. With seven public kickoffs, more than fifty sites to tackle, and hundreds of volunteers to coordinate, the planning team works hard to put together an impactful program. Get to know our current team!

Our planning team kickoff leaders:

• Oregon Kickoff: Andrea Beard (18^th year involved with CYS)
  • Storm water engineer with the City of Oregon.
  • The City of Oregon has been a CYS kickoff location for 18 years, since 2004, although Oregon watersheds have had a kickoff since 2001.
  • Why does Andrea support Clean Your Streams? “I personally enjoy spending time walking the creeks in preparation for the event.  It gives me a sense of satisfaction reading through data cards knowing that we have done a small part of eliminating trash from the streams.”
• Side Cut Kickoff: Bob Neubert (19^th year involved with CYS)
  • Storm water engineer with Lucas County Storm Water Utility.
  • Lucas County Storm Water Utility has been a consistent CYS major sponsor for many years.
  • Why does Bob support Clean Your Streams? “To provide stewardship opportunities, especially to Scouts since I’m a volunteer Scouts BSA leader.”
  • Bob’s interesting find: A fifty-inch flat screen TV, which a Boy Scout group pulled out of Swan Creek.
• University of Toledo Kickoff: Tim Niederkorn (6^th year involved with CYS)
  • Environmental engineer with the University of Toledo.
  • UT has been a CYS kickoff for 16 years, since 2006, and has been a consistent CYS major sponsor for many years.
• Perrysburg Kickoff: Lauren Rush (5^th year involved with CYS)
  • Stormwater coordinator with the City of Perrysburg.
  • The City of Perrysburg has had a CYS kickoff location for 7 years, since 2015.
• International Park Kickoff: Ariya Fathi (4^th year involved with CYS)
  • Engineer with Verdantas, LLC. (formerly Hull and Associates).
  • Verdantas has been a consistent CYS sponsor almost every year as Hull and Associates.
• Monroe St. Kickoff: Marilyn DuFour (25^th year involved with CYS)
  • Senior Environmental Specialist with the City of Toledo.
  • The City of Toledo has been a CYS partner since the very beginning – 26 years since 1997!
  • Why does Marilyn support Clean Your Streams? She likes the opportunity to get more young people engaged with Ottawa Park and the Ottawa River.
• Secor Kickoff: Rick Bryan (4^th year involved with CYS)
  • Active environmental volunteer throughout Northwest Ohio, currently involved with the Oak Openings Region Conservancy. He first became involved with CYS as a board member of Lucas SWCD, serving on the TMACOG Environmental Council.
  • Rick initially co-coordinated the Olander Park Kickoff before relocating to Secor in 2020.
  • Rick’s interesting find: a piano illegally dumped at Kitty Todd Preserve.