The world is a much better place today, especially at the Vernal Pool Preserve at Mather Field, thanks to the heroic efforts of Allyson Seconds and 23 amazing volunteers with Sacramento Picks It Up (SPIU)!
On Sunday, January 29th, these wonderful folks participated in the Mather Vernal Pools Trash Dash, an effort to remove trash and report illegal dump sites along a stretch of road at the south end of Zinfandel Drive. This area is part of the 1,342-acre Illa M. Collin Conservation Preserve at Mather Field, that was set aside to protect rare vernal pools.
Given the remoteness of this location at the south end of Zinfandel Drive, delinquents have long used this area as an illegal dumping site for garbage, mattresses, abandoned vehicles, yard waste, and the like. Despite the periodic patrols of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputies and Sacramento County Park Rangers, the illegal activities continue, much to the detriment of the habitat and wildlife in the adjacent Vernal Pool Preserve.
Of course, the illegal dumping is also extremely unsightly, which poses problems for Sacramento Splash, as this is one of the areas where we take students when they visit Splash on their class field trip. We don’t want the students to have to pass by piles of garbage as we venture out into the vernal pool grassland habitat. For many of these students, this is their first experience in nature, and we want that experience to be a positive and pristine one.
Fortunately, Allyson and SPIU came to the rescue on January 29th and worked to clean up a huge amount of trash and other junk. They made several large piles of filled trash bags and other debris and then filed County 311 reports to have those piles picked up and disposed of properly. The results were stunning, and the area now looks great for the students and others who come out to explore the vernal pool grasslands at Mather Field.
Sacramento Picks It Up is a Facebook group that was established by Allyson in March of 2021, with the goal of creating a community of like-minded people who want to keep our region trash-free. Check out Sacramento Picks It Up! on Facebook and get involved in their fun and productive pick-up events. Or get inspired to head out on your own pick-up event and then post photos of your efforts on SPIU’s Facebook page. Sacramento Picks It Up will be doing more cleanup events out at the Mather Field vernal pools soon, so stay tuned.
THANK YOU, Allyson, and SPIU!