All of Partners for Clean Streams programs are made possible through the generosity of our sponsors and community donations. This month, we are especially grateful for the support from the Jay and Valentina Jindal Fund in partnership with the Greater Toledo Community Foundation. With continued contributions like this, Partners for Clean Streams is able to advance our shared community goals of water stewardship and engagement across Northwest Ohio.
Thank you for helping us continue our mission to protect and celebrate our local waterways!
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We are excited to announce that we will be celebrating 30 years of Clean Your Streams! Our Annual Clean Year Streams Day is happening on Saturday, September 26th to celebrate 30 years of impact, service, and connection. We invite all participants, families, volunteers, and supporters to mark their calendars for this special occasion.
CYS 30 is Northwest Ohio’s largest watershed cleanup event, now in its 30th year, welcoming individuals, families, schools, community groups, and businesses of all ages.
The clean-up begins with check-in and orientation at several kickoff locations across Northwest Ohio. This year’s locations include University of Toledo, Monroe St. United Methodist Church, Oregon Municipal Building, Westwinds Metropark, Side Cut Metropark, Woodlands Park, and Independence Dam State Park.
After orientation, volunteers will be assigned to cleanup locations throughout local watersheds. By mid-morning, teams will be actively removing litter from parks, streams, and riverbanks. At noon, volunteers will be invited to reconvene for an appreciation picnic, including free food, t-shirts, raffle prizes, environmental tabling, and to announce the winners of Clean Your Streams Challenges.
CYS 30 will also include our week-long, clean-on-your-own Remote Kickoff that leads up to Clean Your Streams Day. After you register for Remote Kickoff, you will choose a public waterway site where you will pick up trash and use the Clean Swell app to record your progress.
If you or your business are interested in becoming a sponsor of this year’s event, please contact PCS Executive Director, Todd Duvall, [email protected] for more information.
Unable to make it to the event but still want to support the mission? Click the link to donate and be a part of celebrating three decades of water stewardship! https://partnersforcleanstreams.org/donate/
Make sure to be following our Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X/Twitter, and keeping up to date on our website for more information as we start getting closer to the day!
]]>Expanding our volunteer network allows us to continue collecting valuable water quality data across the region while also helping to keep discarded fishing line out of our waterways. If you are interested in getting involved, visit our website to learn more about our volunteer programs and how you can make a difference.
One-way volunteers are making an impact is through our Reel In & Recycle program, which provides collection bins where people can properly dispose of used fishing line which can pose a serious threat to wildlife and aquatic habitats.
This month, we’re highlighting our Point Place fishing line recycling bin. Thanks to the dedication of one of our volunteers, the bin has been consistently maintained and emptied throughout the year. Last year, the bin was overflowing with fishing line —better overflowing the recycling bins rather than our local waterways!
We extend a sincere thank you to all of our volunteers who continue to maintain monitoring sites and water quality testing efforts across the watershed. We also thank our community partners—the National Museum of the Great Lakes, the Toledo Naturalists’ Association, and the Toledo Zoo— for their ongoing support in advancing education, conservation, and awareness throughout the region.
At each river, teams held a cup that represented their waterway. Along the way at each cone down their line, they drew prompts that described real-world pollution events—such as “someone used fertilizer on their lawn and it rained”—and responded by adding two beans to their cup. Each bean represented a pollutant entering the water system. Other prompts included native plants or river cleanups that could remove a certain amount of their beans.
As the activity continued, the goal became clear to the girls: keep as little beans as possible from reaching Lake Erie. This activity helped illustrate how pollution accumulates as water travels and how small everyday actions can add up across a watershed.
You can recreate this same concept at home or in a classroom by using materials like cones or markers for stations, cups, and small objects to act as pollutants. Create your own prompt cards to see how different choices change the outcome. It’s an easy, hands-on-way to show how everything in a watershed Is connected and how important it is to prevent these pollutants from entering our local waterways.
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This summer, we’re excited to host a community screening of Ripples of Plastic in partnership with National Museum of the Great Lakes. The film explores the growing impact of plastic pollution on our local environment.
The July 18th screening will include a facilitated post-film panel designed to extend the conversation beyond the screen and into local action. The panel will provide space for attendees to ask questions and hear directly from regional experts working on plastic pollution and watershed protection.
Admission for Ripples of Plastic is $5 for advance, pre-ordered tickets and $10 at the door. Purchasing in advance is encouraged to help with planning and ensure seating availability, while still keeping the event accessible for all community members.
Click the link below for more information and to purchase tickets.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ripples-of-plastic-screening-tickets-1991782025656
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