Giving Back: Spring Cleanup With Cotati Creek Critters!

Cotati Creek Critters — a group of volunteers that maintains part of the Laguna de Santa Rosa in Rohnert Park and Cotati — is inviting the public to a spring cleanup day this weekend!

If you're looking for a way to give back, come out Saturday morning to help clean up the Laguna de Santa Rosa before trash washes downstream into the heart of the Laguna, the Russian River and the Pacific Ocean.

Volunteers can start at one of two locations — either Falletti Park, off Gravenstein Way (which is east of the intersection of Old Redwood Hwy and Hwy. 116, just north of the new Peets Coffee) or Cotati well lot #2 on Lakewood Ave., — whichever works for you.

From there volunteers will spread out in both directions along one and a half miles of the Laguna channel. 

If you go: Spring trash cleanup is April 7 from 9 a.m. to noon. Go to one of the two locations at 9 a.m. Be sure to wear old clothes with rain boots if you have them, as protection against water, mud and blackberries. Gloves, trash grabbers and buckets provided.  Only heavy rain cancels. Go here for maps and links to directions.

About the organization: Cotati Creek Critters is a grassroots citizens' group working to restore a section of the upper reach of the Laguna de Santa Rosa that runs through Cotati and a small part of Rohnert Park, and to encourage a sense of environmental stewardship in the local community.

The organization began as an all-volunteer group in 1998. In 2005, Cotati Creek Critters received a grant from the California Department of Water Resources to involve the local community in planting native trees and shrubs along a one-mile section of the Laguna de Santa Rosa. Since then over 3,000 volunteers and many partners, collaborators and supporters have been involved in planting, caring for the plants and raising awareness. Volunteers have included people of all ages from three year olds (the Cotati Co-op Nursery School) to high school, Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University students, to professionals and retired people, and a range of community groups.

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