On Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020, several volunteers from the Napa Sierra Club worked with Ashley Kvitek of the Napa County Resource Conservation District on a project for the Napa County Coastal Cleanup 2020.

Volunteering with the Napa Sierra Club for the Napa Coastal Clean-up at the Vine Trail by Lainey Laband.

As I pulled into the parking lot of the Hartle Court Apartments, I was greeted with the smiling face of Chris Benz, the Chair of the Napa Sierra Group. Or at least the smiling face from the parts I could see above her mask and below her hat. She told me where to park and where she set up a table at the entrance of the Vine Trail. I made my way over and waited for the other volunteers to show.

It was pleasant to watch as people arrived, happy to see one another in person. I hadn’t introduced myself to anyone until we had all gathered in a circle to talk about what our plan of action was. We had Ashley Kvitek from the Napa RCD join us, as well as provide us with some supplies for the clean-up. She talked about the importance of these clean-ups and how grateful she was to be there with us. She explained to us that when trash is not properly taken care of, it can be carried into our waterways  eventually ending up in our oceans. This does not bode well for ocean wildlife, which might mistake a piece of trash as their food.

We sent everyone off with buckets and pickers in hand, ready to tackle any piece of trash in their way. I partnered up with Katie Stilwell, also a Napa Sierra Club intern who helped organize the event, and we headed straight toward the river. At first, we did not see much trash around, but once we started walking toward the Imola bridge, our buckets started to fill. We met up with Nick Cheranich and eventually stumbled upon what appeared to be foam that was broken down and spread out in an area of about 100 square feet. We started to pick the foam up, but it proved to be difficult because of how fragile it was. The smaller pieces would disintegrate in our hands if we weren’t careful enough!

After about 40 minutes, we had made a small dent in removing the amount of foam that was on the ground. I felt a little disappointed, but I knew we put in the effort to do something good, even if the outcome wasn’t what I hoped for.

We made it back to the entrance and sorted through all the trash. In the end, 12 people had cleaned up 1,887 pieces of garbage, which was equal to about 113 pounds! I was grateful for everyone that had come out, and proud of the work we had done. It felt rewarding to do some good that would benefit the local ecosystem.