Rafters embark down the Animas River from the 32nd Street put-in. Raft guiding outfitter Mild to Wild is organizing a volunteer cleanup of the Animas River Trail on June 4 in an effort to give back to one of Durango’s marquee outdoor recreation draws. Already, the outfitter has garnered the support of 75 volunteers, but hopes to recruit between 120 to 150 in all. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald file)
Rafters embark down the Animas River from the 32nd Street put-in. Raft guiding outfitter Mild to Wild is organizing a volunteer cleanup of the Animas River Trail on June 4 in an effort to give back to one of Durango’s marquee outdoor recreation draws. Already, the outfitter has garnered the support of 75 volunteers, but hopes to recruit between 120 to 150 in all. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald file)Jerry McBride

Raft guiding outfitter Milder to Wild will host a volunteer clean up project of the stretch of the Animas River running through Durango on June 4.

General manager Benji Mickel said the project has already garnered roughly 75 volunteers, as well as 15 Mild to Wild raft guides. Volunteering is one small way to give back to the river that gives the community so much, he said.

“There’s a lot of really cool mountain towns in Colorado, but it’s pretty rare any of them have a river like the Animas River,” he said. “(That’s) what makes it so special and worth preserving, protecting and putting our effort into clean up.”

A news release said the cleanup will unfold in four different phases, with volunteers welcome to join at any point.

“We’ve got kind of four different drop points,” Mickel said. “Our goal is to really spend a couple hours at each point. We’ll move in, just get as much trash as we possibly can in a couple hours there.”

The location and start times for each section are as follows:

9:45 a.m., starting at the 32nd Street raft put in, volunteers will walk south toward 29th Street.9:50 a.m., starting at the 29th Street raft put in and walking south past the High School Bridge and Paradise Beach.9:55 a.m., starting at the Ninth Street raft put-in and walking north through the river corridor toward the Schneider Skate Park.10 a.m., starting at Santa Rita Park, volunteers will walk north toward the Doubletree Hotel.

Mickel said the Animas River sees a high amount of daily traffic, whether that be from boaters, anglers or just residents coming to enjoy the water. The river’s popuilarity means a lot of users – and a lot of trash – which is why the rafting outfitter was inspired to clean it up.

“The Animas River is a marquee asset to the Durango community, especially in the summer,” he said. “It gets a lot of daily use from the local community, and unfortunately that sometimes can result in some trash.”

Mickel said he hopes to garner the support of anywhere from 120 to 150 volunteers and asks that participants bring a garbage bag and a pair of protective gloves to collect trash with.

For more information regarding the clean up, contact Mild to Wild at (970) 247-4789 or email [email protected].

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