By Tom Douglas

On Saturday March 2, some 200 volunteers turned out to clean up trash along the San Marcos River from Rio Vista Dam in San Marcos all of the way down to Palmetto State Park – that’s around 60 river miles! The City of San Marcos facilitated the cleanup for the most upstream section of the river, where a land-based approach is practical. The lower eight sections, from the San Marcos River Retreat (located between San Marcos TX and Martindale TX) down to Palmetto State Park (near Ottine TX), were cleaned up by paddlers. I joined the group of 13 volunteers paddling 6 canoes and 4 kayaks who cleaned up from Amigos Beach (near Fentress TX) down to Son’s Blue River Camp (near Prairie Lea TX).

The early morning temperature was slightly cool, but it was already warming up pleasantly by 10:30, when our group met up at Amigos Beach. Our thanks go out to Patti Carothers, who assured that all of our waivers were in order. Also lending a hand was Kim Sorensen, who is the Boater Education Manager for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. As soon as the group was ready to be underway, Kim headed down to the far end of the cleanup at Palmetto State Park. Her photos from both locations are posted on the TPWD Boating and Water Safety Facebook page, where she gives a special shout out to some of the Houston area paddlers. Thank you Kim!

This is a fairly placid section of the San Marcos River, so that it wasn’t difficult to collect garbage from eddies along the banks. Most of the items we picked up were “floatables,” although John Ainsworth did manage to haul in a rusty child’s bicycle. Part way down our route, we made a brief lunch stop near Son’s River Ranch, where rows of palapas line the river right bank. It was quiet there, as this location apparently hadn’t opened up for the summer season yet.

All along the way, three of our paddlers were also receiving training from American Canoe Association instructors – a good example of nature-friendly multi-tasking. 

After our lunch stop, it was back to collecting trash until we reached our take-out at Son’s Blue River Camp, which is located on the right bank near the community of Prairie Lea, just downstream from the Highway 247 bridge. (This being the first of two bridges at Prairie Lea, it is also known as Prairie Lea 1. Another bridge, called Prairie Lea 2, is about 1.3 miles farther downstream, but the take-out there is much more difficult.) We were off the water by a few minutes after 4:00. 

In contrast to the earlier riverside camp, things were hopping here, as we carried our boats and the collected garbage past the rows of palapas and on up to our shuttle vehicles. Special thanks to John Ainsworth, who then hauled our collected trash to the designated collection point at Shady Grove Campground near Martindale TX. 

Having completed our main task, we headed up to the San Marcos River Retreat for good food and good company. Thanks to Tom and Paula Goynes, owners of the San Marcos River Retreat, for hosting us! 

Thanks to the photographers who provided images for this article: Kim Sorensen (TPWD), Constantin Platon, and Bryan Williams.