The Great Texas River Cleanup expands TXST students’ perspectives on community and careers
Matt Joyce | February 28, 2023
March 24 update: On April 1, over 3,000 student volunteers will descend on work sites across the San Marcos area to serve local families and organizations. We’re proud of our students for giving back to this vibrant community we call home.
A jaw-dropping surprise. That’s the reaction Texas State University junior Landon Brown has noticed from fellow students who show up to volunteer at the annual Great Texas River Cleanup.
“When you look across the landscape it might look like just a few bottles,” says Brown, a Geography Water Resources major who will participate as a team leader in this year’s event on Saturday, March 4. “But when you actually finish up, there’s a lot more trash out there than you think.”
TXST’s Environmental, Health, Safety, Risk & Emergency Management Department and the City of San Marcos are calling on students and community volunteers to participate in the cleanup, which takes place 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. and includes a pizza lunch afterward.
About 625 volunteers turned out last year to work in crews assigned to watersheds across the city. Volunteers can sign up by clicking on a specific watershed on this city map. Texas State coordinates the cleanup of Sessom Creek and Willow Creek—two of the watersheds on campus—though students can volunteer for any of the 10 different watersheds across San Marcos.
“San Marcos is a giant watershed for the San Marcos River and the Blanco River, so we divide up the cleanup areas by sub-watersheds to raise awareness that there are different creeks in town that affect the river,” says Peyton Austin, an environmental health and safety specialist at Texas State. “I think it helps change perceptions about what you can control and understanding that any trash in your area can end up in the street, which ends up in the drain, which ends up in Purgatory Creek, which ends up in the San Marcos River.”
During last March’s cleanup, volunteers collected 6,865 pounds of trash, including 19 vehicle tires, says Nicky Vermeersch, an environmental health and safety specialist at Texas State. They also collected 1,380 pounds of recyclable materials.
Student groups including the Environmental Conservation Organization, Human Environmental Animal Team, and the Bobcat Stream Team have participated in past cleanups.
Brown says he became interested in the cleanup partly as a result of his part-time job with the Environmental, Health, Safety, Risk & Emergency Management Department. He says he later changed his major to Geography Water Resources because of the pressing relevance of water quantity and distribution.
“The cleanup has definitely shown me the importance of having people who are environmentally concerned,” he says. “If you don’t have people who are oriented and concerned about our environment, we’re going to continue to trash it.”
Brown says the event also helps link students to the San Marcos community beyond campus.
“It’s not just a Texas State thing. It’s San Marcos and keeping our rivers clean,” he says. “You’re expanding beyond being a Bobcat, and you’re a citizen of San Marcos at that point—and you’re being a productive one.”
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For more information, contact University Communications:Jayme Blaschke, 512-245-2555 Sandy Pantlik, 512-245-2922 |