Reach the beach: 2012 LA River CleanUp wants you

AP Photo/Ric Francis

This Saturday, April 28, marks the 23^rd Annual La Gran Limpieza: The Great Los Angeles River Cleanup. Organized by nonprofit Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR), it’s estimated that a good 4,000 volunteers spread out over 15 sites along the river from Long Beach to the Sepulveda Basin will pull more than 25 tons of garbage during the action.

Like last year, Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa will be participating in the effort as part of the “We Serve LA” call to action alongside a host of elected officials, students, families and more in the day-long clean-up effort that will happen from 9 a.m. until noon.

Among the benefits of participating in the cleanup is being able to access areas usually off-limits to the public, including soft-bottom sections not paved over with concrete and populated by wildlife.

College students will be conducting something of a trash study by examining the contents of every fifth bag of garbage and cataloging the contents. That experiment should also aid in the annual “River Treasures” contest that ranks the weirdest and most interesting items found during the cleanup. Is it too late to submit the jet ski KPCC’s own Alex Cohen recently found in the L.A. River?

This year’s River Cleanup will be one of ten events spotlighted that day as part of Keep America Beautiful’s first Great American Cleanup “National Day of Action.”

To take part in the 2012 L.A. River Cleanup, register online at the FoLAR wesbite (where cleanup site locations can also be found). Volunteers signing up as a group can do so by phone at 323-223-0585.