On August 16th, over 80 volunteers joined together to clean up a 2 mile stretch of the Johnson Creek and the Spring Water Trail.

Volunteers just getting started picking out debris from the creek.

There was a lot of iron which was very rusty. Notice the water tank in this picture. Volunteers also found many old sleeping bags we suspect came from homeless camps. And of course lots of garbage along with plastic garbage bags. Volunteers found many unusual things in the creek like bicycles, car parts, a toy hand grenade and an unexpectedly high amount of underwear.

The most unusual things found in the creek was this head stone. The stone was turned over to the Milwaukie Pioneer Cemetery who will try to find its proper resting place.

Here a couple work on cutting back the vegetation in the creek at Mill Park.

More folks removing vegetation at Mill Park.

Here are the volunteers from Fred Meyer. Fred Meyer was the primary sponsor for this event. Not only did they provide some great food and drink, they also got in the creek.

Creek cleaning is dirty work. These hardy souls must have tied into some rusty iron that was abundant in the creek

After the clean up the volunteers enjoyed a BBQ sponsored by Fred Meyer.

The clean up actually started on the 13th. Clackamas County Corrections brought out a crew of inmates who removed the brush from the creek bed at Bell Station. This really helped beautify one of the most visible parts of Johnson Creek.

Here is a before and after shot of the creek showing the great job corrections did.

This was the first time the Coalition organized an event like this. We couldn't have done it with out the help from many agencies and organizations.

	SOLV - This was the first stop in organizing this event. SOLV has years of experience which helped greatly. This event was an official SOLV event. Our event was listed on there website. Their event planning guide and forms saved us a lot of time in planning this event.
	Johnson Creek Watershed Council - They were next on our list to contact and they were very helpful. They helped in the planning from the start. They also supplied four team captains for the event.
	North Clackamas County Parks and Recreation District - We used Mill Park as the event site. We were lucky to have the use of Tonia Burns who has experience organizing events like this. In spite of being involved in a bicycle/car accident, she came and worked the event.
	Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church - Pastor Bill Fisher was a part of the planning committee from the start. His church and others supplied more than 30 volunteers.
	Clackamas County Sheriff's Office - The homeless living along the creek were a concern for our volunteers. CCSO cleared them out a few days before the event and we had no incidents during the event.
	Clackamas County Corrections - They supplied inmate work crews and cleared the brush from Bell Station and also did graffiti removal at the Luther and Linwood bridges.
	Portland Parks and Recreation - They provided two vehicles and drivers who patrolled the Spring Water Trail for trash bags. They brought trash to the dumpsters and helped transport volunteers.
	Johnson Creek Brass - This brass band came out to entertain the volunteers during the thank you party. Due to the heat we ended the event early so most of the volunteers missed the beautiful music.

Events like this need sponsors to be really successful. We had some really great sponsors.

	Fred Meyer - They were our primary sponsor. They supplied all the food and drinks for the event. Volunteers enjoyed bagels and cream cheese in the morning. When they made it back to Mill Park they enjoyed a hamburger/hot dog BBQ. They also arranged for the drop boxes. And they got in the creek themselves. It was a pleasure working with the Johnson Creek Fred Meyer.
	Starbucks - They supplied 5 gallons of fresh coffee in the morning to get the volunteers started. The coffee was a big hit and they nearly drank the whole thing.
	Krispy Kreme - 10 dozen doughnuts and coffee also got the volunteers going.
	Morgan Distributing - 4 cases of power drinks.
	Sunset Garbage - They supplied two large drop boxes for the event.