The American River Parkway has been called the "crown jewel" of Sacramento - but with sharp reductions to park rangers and maintenance, that jewel needs quite a bit of polish these days. So Saturday's 16th annual cleanup comes at a crucial time - and it appears word has gotten around:
Poggetto: "We have twice as many volunteers signed up to come out on Saturday than we did last year."
Dianna Poggetto is with the American River Parkway Foundation, which runs the event. She says organizers are expecting 2000 volunteers this year across 22 locations from Discovery Park to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery.
Poggetto: "We've got team leaders at each location. We're prepared for anything. We have extra supplies. We have runners."
Poggetto says volunteers will focus on overgrown weeds, pulling trash out of the river itself and the parkway's running and equestrian trails. They'll also clean out kiosks so they can be painted in the next couple of weeks.