One last THANK YOU to those who helped sponsor our event:

• Greater Toledo Community Foundation
• Sisters of St. Francis
• Lucas County Storm Water Utility
• Cenovus Energy
• OI
• The University of Toledo
• City of Toledo
• Bass Pro Shops
• Cabela’s
• City of Oregon
• OmniSource
• The Andersons, Inc.
• NSG Group
• Jones & Henry Engineers
• Arcadis
• Tetra Tech
• Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc.
• Verdantas
• First Energy
• First Solar
• Oak Openings Region Conservancy
• Monroe St. United Methodist Church
• City of Perrysburg
• Metroparks Toledo
• The Mannik & Smith Group, Inc.
• The Patterson Family

And all of our in-kind donors!

This year we were able to clean out 10,000+ pounds of trash from the waterways with help from almost 600 volunteers.

Clean Your Streams is a watershed cleanup initiative where volunteers gather trash and document citizen science data on the items they find. It’s Ohio’s largest cleanup effort and helps contribute marine debris data to the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) database.

Stay tuned for more data breakdowns and results to come!

When the trees lose their leaves, the leaf debris ends up entering storm drains. Not only do the leaves clog storm drains causing flooding, but if not properly collected, the decomposing leaf debris can result in an excess of nutrients entering the waterways from the storm drains which promotes an increase of algal blooms and negatively impacts the water quality which directly affects humans and wildlife. Storm drains connect directly to the waterways, whatever enters the storm drain eventually reaches the rivers and streams which in turn inevitably leads to Lake Erie. Keeping leaves off of the street will help to decrease the number of leaves that enter the storm drains which will help combat water quality issues.

Some things you can do to help keep leaves out of the storm drain systems:

• Rake your leaves and look into your local municipalities leaf collection protocols
• Mow your leaves to create your own fertilizer for your lawns or gardens
• Look into composting leaves and grass clippings!
• Looking after your local storm drains by cleaning them up and partnering with us to spread the message! Check out this page to learn how you can work with us to help advocate for storm drain awareness by participating in our Storm Drain Marking volunteer opportunity.

Help us clean-up and recycle discarded fishing equipment!

We are looking for volunteers to help remove fishing line and other debris from our Reel in and Recycle bins located around the Northwest Ohio region. Some of this debris may include lead sinkers, fishing line, hooks, and other marine debris. This activity can be completed on your own time; PCS will provide all equipment needed including gloves, buckets, scissors, an instruction manual, etc.

Fill out the interest form here if you want to help Get the Lead Out of our local waterways!

Location: City of Toledo boat launch across from the Broadway Street Zoo entrance at 2700 Broadway Street.

Explore the world of Sturgeons and even get the opportunity to sponsor one and release one into the wild! This event is free for the public and there will be family-friendly activities and educational stations. Come check out our table and learn more about the water and what lives in it! The sponsored fish will be microchipped for permanent identification. If your sponsored fish is recovered during ongoing monitoring, the Toledo Zoo staff will reach out to you!

You can find more information here, and we hope to see you there!