On Saturday, Sept. 19, the Bureau of Reclamation’s Central California Area Office is partnering with the University of California Cooperative Extension to organize the 2015 Great Sierra River Cleanup in Tuolumne County and southern Calaveras County. The cleanup will focus on sites around New Melones Lake in the Stanislaus River watershed as declining water levels expose trash and debris.

The public, organizations and local businesses are invited and encouraged to participate in the cleanup on Sept. 19 from 9 a.m. to noon. To register, contact Park Ranger Pat Sanders at 209-536-9094 (TTY 800-877-8339). On-site registration and check-in will begin at 8 a.m. at the New Melones Lake Visitor Center, 6850 Studhorse Flat Road, Sonora.

Cleanup sites will be located in the Glory Hole and Tuttletown Recreation Areas, New Melones Lake Marina, Mark Twain, Camp 9 and Natural Bridges. Maps will be provided for these locations upon check-in, and volunteers will need to provide their own transportation. Volunteers should dress for the summer heat; bring snacks and water; wear a hat, sunscreen and sturdy shoes; and bring work gloves and trash grabbers, if possible. Participants requiring special accommodations should contact Reclamation as far in advance as possible.

The GSRC is the premier volunteer event focused on removing trash and restoring the health of waterways throughout the Sierra Nevada Region. This annual event is coordinated by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and held in conjunction with California Coastal Cleanup Day.

These events support the Department of the Interior’s Let’s Move Outside! initiative, which was created to get kids and families to take advantage of America’s great outdoors, which abound in every community, city and town. For information on Let’s Move Outside! visit http://www.letsmove.gov/lets-move-outside.

For information on the GSRC, visit http://www.sierranevada.ca.gov/our-work/rivercleanup.

For information on New Melones Lake, please visit http://www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/newmelones.