National River Cleanup Day May 17th: San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz

Hey everyone,
I'm organizing a river cleanup in observance of National River Cleanup Day (May 17th) on the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz. Multiple organizations within the county are working together to host multiple sites throughout the watershed. While we expect to have lots of feet on the ground and a few waders in the water, it would really help to get some boats in the system to access the deeper/steeper/bushier areas. I know NCKA has banded together in the past to do cleanup-hookups and I'm hoping to get a couple yakkers in on this cleanup.

Strangely, the the City of Santa Cruz has an ordinance prohibiting recreational boating on the lower river. A local organization called the San Lorenzo River Alliance has been working to get that ordinance removed and has organized paddle events on the lower river that are permitted by the city. Unfortunately, May 17th is a busy day for that group and they haven't been been able to commit to participating.

Recreational kayaking is permitted upstream of the Highway 1 crossing, however, and there is plenty of slack water available to paddle through and trash to be gleaned throughout the system. There is good launch access at the end of Felker Street in the downtown area and a cleanup booth providing gloves, bags, garbage collection, and hopefully refreshments will be just across the river. There is also a cleanup site at the Felton Covered Bridge County Park that has river access to slack water where boat-based cleaners will be a huge advantage.

The event will run from 9am to 11am on Saturday, May 17th. Please respond if you have any interest in participating or if you know of other local paddle groups that would like to help out. You can find more information on all the sites and an RSVP system here: http://goo.gl/tiaLrE
and I've attached out event flyer. Let me know if you have any questions or comments and I hope to see you on the water on May 17th or otherwise!

Thanks for doing this--and thanks for posting it here too. If that wasn't the same day as Gimme Shelter, I would totally join you.
Has the city finally allowed rec kayaking in the lower river? http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/santacruz/ci_24346033/santa-cruz-wants-revive-san-lorenzo-river-recreation EDIT, my bad I just re-read your post.