Oak Park volunteers participate in creek clean-up

Volunteers from remove nearly 500 pounds of waste from Medea Creek

Volunteers removed 120 pounds of trash, 70 pounds of recyclables and 300 pounds of invasive palms. The Environmental Education and Awareness Committee held a creek clean-up Sept. 15 to remove trash and invasive plants, in partnership with Oak Park High School’s Our Future Club.

The 97 volunteers worked with Heal the Bay and Ocean Conservancy, participating in an international coastal cleanup. Since Oak Park is not located on a coast, the community decided to help clean the creek instead. In the Los Angeles area alone, more than 12,500 people participated in the national coastal cleanup event. Staff from Rancho Simi Recreation and Parks Districts came to the event to show volunteers which plants were invasive and had to be removed.

“This event was a really nice way to show the community that we care about the environment,” junior and president of the Our Future club Dan Dan said.

According to junior and volunteer Kausthub Allu, the cleanup is important in that it promotes community involvement.

“I think it’s a good cause that we are able to help clean up the environment,” Allu said. “It’s important to do our job in developing the community.”

Though the international event was focused on cleaning the coast, chairperson of the district’s Environmental Education and Awareness Committee, Keyla Treitman, said that cleaning the creek helps to prevent pollution of the ocean.

“Everything that ends up in the creek eventually ends up in the ocean, so to remove it upstream prevents pollution to our oceans,” Treitman said. “You don’t have to go all the way to the beach in order to protect the beach.”

The event was attended by a wide variety of people: OPHS students, members of the Our Future Club, members of the Students for the Protection of Animals and the Environment club, Oak Park parents and some El Camino students.

“There was a really nice variety of [volunteers],” Treitman said.

Both Dan and Treitman said that the clean-up was a success.
“We were fulfilling a want from the community; they wanted to be able to help,” Treitman said.