Monday Q&A: Modesto man takes on trash along river

Modestan Chris Guptill is an avid outdoorsman. He enjoys hunting and fishing and hiking through national parks with his wife and two sons.

But the Davis High School history teacher’s favorite activity is paddling the Tuolumne River.

“After paddling the Tuolumne River through the downtown area a couple of years ago, I could not believe the amount of garbage, tires, shopping cart and debris in and along the river,” he said. “As I started recreating more along the river, I realized there were no efforts being made to clean up the area and no organization or agency responsible for that job.”

Rather than wait for one to materialize, Guptill took matters into his own hands.

Starting with one dumpster and just over a dozen family and friends last year, today Guptill is leading monthly cleanups with an average of 60 volunteers and is partnering with local law enforcement agencies, government and businesses.

The efforts are called Operation 9-2-99 because Guptill focuses on the area between the Ninth Street Bridge and Highway 99, which he says is the most polluted and abused portion of river in California.

Q: Why did you start Operation 9-2-99?

A: I started it to address the terrible blight along what should be a premier recreation destination in our community but instead was an abused and neglected dumping ground. After looking at the same objects in the river for months, I decided to paddle the river in February and document what was down there. I started with Darin Jesberg, who coordinates the Dry Creek Trails Coalition cleanup effort, and with Ed Aguilar and the Tuolumne River Trust, which was the only group currently putting resources into the river. Using Darin’s successful blueprint, we began coordinating resources with the city, county, sheriff’s department and Modesto Police Department.

Q: What other cleanup efforts are there on the Tuolumne and how does your effort differ?

A: Tuolumne River Trust is the only other group that currently organizes river cleanup events on the Tuolumne. Since Operation 9-2-99 has started, though, we have partnered with other individuals and groups to tackle other issues along the river and Dry Creek. We have worked on water hyacinth blockages and are trying to develop an experimental arundo (invasive bamboo) abatement program. There is also an ongoing effort led by Councilman John Gunderson and Debra Mason with the Back Country Horsemen to open up recreation opportunities in the Gateway parcel of the Tuolumne River Regional Park near downtown. This involves cutting and removing excess vegetation and developing rough trails for people to use.

Q: How many volunteers did you start with on your first cleanup and how many do you have now?

A: There were 15 volunteers at the first cleanup. It was an overwhelming experience. We were able to clean up one abandoned encampment on the south bank of the river. We half-filled a dumpster and we were completely worn out and discouraged. Compare that day to the day we had 107 volunteers or the day we removed 23.5 tons of material in four 40-cubic-yard dumpsters and you could say we had quite a bit of learning to do from that first cleanup. We generally have 50 to 60 volunteers per cleanup.

Q: How do government and local businesses assist in Operation 9-2-99?

A: Phil McKay with Fish and Wildlife provides assistance on all cleanup events from posting the areas to be cleaned up to providing day-of law enforcement presence to bringing in an ATV and trailer for hauling garbage.

On north bank cleanups, the city parks department helps us with cleanup supplies like bags, grabbers, gloves, a restroom and a waiver of liability form. Modesto police provides us with assistance prior to and during the cleanup event to ensure that our volunteers are safe and have a good experience. Vicki Rice with the Modesto Recycling Program helps us recycle the tires. Grant money from Tuolumne River Trust or Operation 9-2-99 pays for the dumpsters.

On south bank cleanups, we receive the bags, grabbers and gloves from the wastewater division of the public works department. The sheriff’s department provides law enforcement support prior to and during the event and pays for the dumpsters. County public works provides heavy equipment when needed. For all cleanups, Del Ambris with Cost Less Foods helps us collect and return the shopping carts we recover and Brian Gini with Collins Electric provides the tools. Elias Ruiz, who owns Coal Face Creations and builds FeatherRafts, helps us with in-river removal of carts and tires.

Q: How much trash do you collect each month?

A: At the beginning of this effort, our ability to collect large amounts of garbage was limited to 2 to 3 tons each month. As more volunteers and partners joined us, we were able to remove 6 to 7 tons of garbage. Our events peaked with 23.5 tons of material removed from the river in the most blighted areas. One sign of our success is that the amount of material being removed is dropping as we encounter less as we return to each area.

Q: Do you ever feel you are fighting a losing battle because the trash continues to accumulate?

A: Not at all. On the surface when you see trash along the river, it can be discouraging. Looking back over the past year, especially revisiting the photos I took in February 2014, you can see lots of signs of improvement. We have removed 84 tons of garbage, 300 shopping carts, 300 tires, and at one point in the past six months had the entire river from Ninth Street to the Highway 99 transformed into a clean and natural habitat. Each time we go back, we encounter less entrenched blight, and going forward, we want to focus on in-river cleanups that have not ever really been attempted. We could not do that if we weren’t making progress along the riverbank.

Q: Have more people started using the river in that area since you began the cleanups?

A: Definitely. Our goal is for this area to become a premier recreation destination for walkers, runners, bikers, horseback riders, paddlers and anyone who wants to recreate in a clean, natural environment. We have seen an increase in all of these activities over the past year, and one of the obstacles we need to overcome is to change the culture in this part of our community. The river has been abused and neglected, and sometimes people have been reluctant to come out to this part of our community. But we want people to see that it can be a safe, clean, crime-free recreation opportunity right in the heart of our city and region. Connecting this area to the other parts of the Tuolumne River Regional Park system, the Dry Creek trails, the Virginia Corridor and downtown Modesto will turn the Gateway Park into a premier hub for recreation.

Q: Do you ever come in contact with the people responsible for the trash? What, if anything, do you say to them?

A: We do. We try to encourage them to get help at shelters or access some of the many services that are offered. They are notified more than a week in advance of any cleanups in the area and that it is illegal to camp or dump garbage in a city park or on private property without a landowner’s permission. Many times we help them get their personal belongings out of the cleanup area. Our focus is on cleaning up what has been left behind or has been in the area for years. We don’t target people or their belongings. We want to keep our waterways clean, and in order to do that, we are trying to prevent illegal camping and dumping in city parks or on county or private property along the river.

Q: What are the three phases of Operation 9-2-99?

A: The first phase was really to try and uproot years of neglect along the river and get things cleaned up. Things were so bad that we had to break the river up into six different parts in order to deal with each one. The second phase is where we are now, after a year and a half. We can now clean up an entire bank of the river at each cleanup event. The third phase we are hoping to implement next year, and that is an Adopt-A-River style program where businesses and community groups take over the ongoing maintenance of a clean river and park setting. Our goal is to hand them a clean and recreation-friendly stretch of the river and have them use the method that has been successful so far to keep it that way. There are some really good potential partners in the area, and Ed Aguilar with TRT is spearheading this effort to try and reach out to businesses and community groups to step up and join our ongoing efforts.

This story was originally published June 14, 2015 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Monday Q&A: Modesto man takes on trash along river."