South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition

06/16/2026

This past Saturday we broke out the canoes after almost 4 years to float down the Guadalupe River. The last time we used them was in 2022 for an impromptu cleanup on Los Gatos Creek. This time we ventured early in the day to avoid the heat but ended up tagging along with fellow creek partner Carl Salas and team members from District 6 to have some fun on the Guadalupe River. We floated downstream between San Fernando Street and Sharks Way in downtown San Jose. We hope this can catch on for the summer as this is a great way to see our waterways from a different perspective.

06/13/2026

Make sure to check for ticks this summer after outdoor activities. One of our team members found a tick on them after one of our cleanup events.

06/11/2026

Thank you volunteers for helping make today a really productive and amazing event. We returned to last week's event site to finish off the trash that was left over before moving downstream for next week's event. The area had significantly less trash than before but we still managed to remove 3,200 lbs from the Guadalupe River waterway. The site had some larger items like a foam mattress, a car seat, lots of wet fabric, a shopping cart and the usual types of trash like plastic wrappers and containers. The site was also being serviced by Valley Water today. The crew had heavy machinery removing logs that had been in the water jamming up the river and collecting trash. The crew also had a boat to collect any of the trash that was still in the water after clearing out the logs. It's a great site to see after having a couple cleanups there to remove a lot of the trash in that spot. Our members also found a dead lamprey in the water. Although it was not alive, lamprey are a good sign a river is healthy. Just like salmon, lamprey use our waterways to make gravel nests or redds. Cleaning up these areas contributes to the health of our waterways and our local wildlife. If you are interested in helping us continue to Reclaim, Restore and Revitalize our local waterways, join one of our events this month by signing up at sbcleancreeks.com.

06/11/2026

Midweek cleanup today continues our work on the Guadalupe River waterway and trail. With 16 volunteers we were able to remove 3,000 lbs from the waterway and trail next to Skyport Drive. We visited this site at the beginning of May and we focused on the trash in the area and what was accessible near the water. For this cleanup we had two groups, one group removing trash from a concentrated area on the river and another group upstream removing trash from the banks plants and trees. The trash raft on the river contained a mix of floating items like bottles, plastic bags, plastic containers, and lots of styrofoam bits and pieces. All of the trash on the river in this specific spot is accumulating due to the various logs under the water holding things in place. Once a heavy flow of water hits the area the majority of the trash will be transported downstream getting caught up along the edges of the river till it hits another blockage. The trash eventually becomes embedded or buried by sediment, and eventually plants start growing through the trash. Help us grow our community by joining an event, inviting a friend to a cleanup, or sharing this post to get others inspired. To join an event sign up on Eventbrite.com.

06/10/2026

Sign up to join our events at sbcleancreeks.com

06/08/2026

Good read, that highlights 3 key areas where change needs to happen for sustainable salmon populations.

Salmon have faced a boom-bust cycle for years. Making their recovery last longer will require some big changes, including how hatcheries produce fish.

06/05/2026

Join one of our events this month as we continue to Reclaim, Restore and Revitalize the Guadalupe River waterway and trail.

06/01/2026

A big thank you to Councilmember Michael Mulcahy and the District 6 team, San Jose Sharks, the team at San José Mineta International Airport Environment planning and development, and the Mayor Matt Mahan's office for helping us cleanup the Guadalupe River waterway. For this Saturday event our group of 35 cleaned up just downstream from our may 20th site. The site had lots of debris embedded into the edges of the river and stuck in the plants and tree trunks in the area. Volunteers were spread out working on different parts of the site. Volunteers picked trash out of the plants, dislodged foam bedding off the edge of the river, and we also had some volunteers moving trash from the site to the trail for it to get picked up by the city. In total we removed 2,000 lbs from the Guadalupe River waterway and trail. Thank you volunteers for helping us close out the month with another amazing cleanup event.

05/30/2026

Great job volunteers! We removed 1,300 lbs from the Guadalupe River waterway on Wednesday. It's been a whole year since we have visited this site for a clean up event. Last year the area was heavily encamped with trash from the encampment ending up on the floor and in the river. For this visit there was no one residing under the bridge and the amount of trash was significantly less than in May 2025. Even with the reduced amount of trash our mighty crew removed 6 shopping carts, a small electric motor, leftover wire casings, and lots of small bits and pieces of plastic, paper, and batteries. Its great to see a reduction in the amount of trash at the sites we cleanup. Its a good sign our efforts along with the city, and multiple agencies is having some form of lasting impact in our waterways. Thank you volunteers for helping us reclaim restore and revitalize the local waterways.

05/28/2026

Throwback Thursday to our invasive plant removal event with The Harker School. Our Invasive Plant Removal events will be coming back online in mid June this year. We are removing invasive plants like Giant Reed, Himalayan Black Berry and English Ivy from Los Gatos Creek waterway. We are hosting these events from June till mid October focusing on the areas near the Three Creeks Trail Bridge. We are looking to partner with schools, local businesses, and non profits to accomplish the removal of these invasive plants. If you are interested in this type of work reach out to us at www.sbcleancreeks.com