Dozens of groups will gather over the first weekend of May to ensure that Calgary rivers and pathways are clean for all those wanting to enjoy them.
It’s the 58th annual River and Pathway clean up, sponsored by ConocoPhillips, which is in its ninth year of supporting the event that started in 1967.
The cleanups began when a then 12-year-old Sandra Crawford found a mattress lying in the waters of the Elbow River. Unable to pull it out on her own, Crawford wrote a letter to the Calgary Herald about the mattress.
Jim Davis, program coordinator with City of Calgary Parks, who was at the Beaver Dam Flat – Refinery Park area, said there will be more than 180 groups, more than 2,000 volunteers, and 300 kilometres of pathway that will be covered from May 2 to 4.
“It just really helps to improve habitat for wildlife and make it a better experience for Calgarians when they out there enjoying their parks,” Davis told LWC.
He said the event has grown so much over the past five decades that they’ve had to create a more formal grid system. In the past, he said it was less formal and didn’t require as much organization. Now, every group gets assigned an area to bring in their volunteers to clean up the debris they find.
“Groups get really attached to their routes,” he said.
“We have some groups that have been doing the same stretch for 30 years.”
Participating groups go through an orientation of sorts, with instruction on what to do if they find biohazardous material, to be careful of ground nesting birds or other animals, and what to do around storm ponds and the river.
“We don’t want to have to do any rescues,” he said.
Giving back to the community
Mike D’Ippolito with ConocoPhillips capital projects was one of the pickers out with dozens of volunteers from the company. It’s his first year participating, and he said it’s a great initiative.
“Giving back to the community is the main reason why we want to do this,” he said.
D’Ippolito said he was in Japan earlier this year, and he said there were no garbage cans around the city. He said everyone takes their garbage with them.
“It was amazing how clean the city was. You look at Calgary, Calgary is an amazingly clean city, and it’s because of initiatives like this,” he said.
“Maybe we’re not quite Japan in terms of culture, but this is a big part of our culture, and, in turn, the city is clean.”
He said it was important to make sure the river system was free of garbage, particularly for the wildlife in the area.
“Over there, there’s a lot of like geese, and I found a lot of Styrofoam, so it’s just things that they could be nibbling on,” he said.
There are always odd items that people unearth in the pathway and river clean up – D’Ippolito had found some shoes and burnt-out clothing – but Davis said that it’s heartening to hear from groups each year that there’s often less trash on their routes.
“I think there is an impact there. The more we do it, we do see some payoffs,” he said.
Kate Maccomb, senior advisor of communications and community investment with ConocoPhillips said that it’s an event that they’ve sponsored for the past nine years. They do it to ensure that they’re a good neighbour in the communities where they live and work.
“It’s become a bit of a tradition within our staff,” she said.
“We come out here every year and we clean up the pathways, and obviously it’s a beautiful day out today. The sun is shining, so it’s a good opportunity for us to get outside and do some good in the city.”
