Volunteers roamed the banks of the Deschutes River on Saturday, hunting for non-native invasive weeds to pull and trash to pick up, while divers and paddlers braved the river itself, searching for a year’s worth of trash and lost items at the 29th annual Deschutes River cleanup.

Coordinated by the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, the river cleanup is a chance for those who use the river to give back to it by helping clear the parks, riverbanks and depths of the river of garbage.

“Obviously we’ve seen a huge dramatic increase in recreation use, so we’re really focused on the debris removal component and then also really trying to educate folks about making responsible choices when we recreate on the river, so the garbage doesn’t end up there in the first place,” said Kolleen Miller, education director for the watershed council. “Potentially, it’s actually more important to engage our community, this day, but throughout the year, to ensure that our community is very aware of the health of the river, and what they can do, the choices they can make every day throughout the year to try to protect it.”

Miller has been helping with the cleanup for about 20 years, and coordinates community and youth education programs. In addition to Bend parks, volunteers were also stationed in La Pine, Sunriver and Tumalo. In past years, teams have pulled up large items like a canoe, a wood stove and chairs. The watershed council does its best to return items to their owners if possible. Garbage goes to the landfill and recyclables are sorted. Last year, teams pulled 2,400 pounds of garbage and weeds from the river, and Miller was hoping for less this year because that would mean there’s less trash in the river.

Volunteers cleaned up on the banks and in the riparian areas, the land that is directly adjacent to the water. It’s important for those areas to be healthy and clear of weeds to help filter runoff and prevent erosion. At Riverbend and Farewell Bend parks, there were about 150 volunteers clearing weeds, 22 paddlers on the water and 12 scuba divers. Across six different sites, there were close to 300 volunteers cleaning the river, Miller said.

Lysa Williamsen, who pulled weeds in Farewell Bend Park, loves the river and loves Bend, so was glad to “give back to a place that gives so much,” she said. She lives in Tumalo and has wanted to help with the cleanup for years. This is her first year participating and she was glad to see that so many people joined.

Lorena Brown, botanist for the invasive plant program for the Deschutes and Ochoco national forests, was at the cleanup on behalf of the Deschutes County Noxious Weed board. She went over which plants were not supposed to be on the riverbanks and may cause ecological harm. She was glad to see people’s enthusiasm for taking care of the river.

Betsy Lahonta was also helping clear weeds in Riverbend Park. She paddleboards in the river, and said she’s down at the park so much that she wanted to help with the cleanup.

Volunteers stood on the Columbia Street and Old Mill bridges, checking on divers and paddlers. Teams combed the river, then surfaced to spread their loot out on tarps. Finds included two witch hats, multiple right shoes, coins, bottles and cans, sunglasses, a small wireless speaker, keys and more. An SD card from a camera was pulled out to see if the photos were viable. Divers mused that a cell phone found still sealed in its protective bag might actually work despite being submerged.

Beth Wagenknecht volunteered for the first time this year, helping sort the finds from the river so not everything ends up in the landfill. She is part of the “green team” at Hayden Homes Amphitheater, which sorts the items in waste bins to pull out what can be recycled or donated.

This is the third year Johanna Varness has been a diver for the cleanup. She’s been part of Central Oregon Diving for several years. She finds it easy to pull so many cans from the river, she said. because they’re bright and easy to spot.

“It’s fun. It was different from previous years, the visibility wasn’t as good,” she said. “It’s fun to be part of events like this.” While recounting what she’d pulled from the river, including a Santa hat, she spotted a crawdad crawling on the glass, and said, “We’ve better put him back!”