This love and support was evident during the week around Earth Day—April 22nd, 2026—when nearly 70 members of the river community helped remove litter from the Wild & Scenic Chattooga River corridor.
The cleanup spanned several coordinated trips, with participating groups from the three commercial rafting outfitters: Southeastern Expeditions, Wildwater, and Nantahala Outdoor Center; as well as groups from Mountain Sprouts Learning/Chattooga Whitewater Shop; the U.S. Forest Service; Clemson Whitewater Club; and the Chattooga Conservancy. Together, we cleaned up about 30 miles of the Chattooga River: everything from the Warwoman Road Bridge on the West Fork, all the way down to Lake Tugalo! Participants removed a total 22 bags worth of trash from the river corridor, plus scattered large items like a kiddie pool and car tires. Despite this haul, reports from volunteers were positive: remote areas of the river corridor seemed cleaner than during the previous Earth Day trash pickup in 2025. This indicates our efforts are working! Volunteers can have a lasting impact on reducing litter along the Wild & Scenic Chattooga River.
Thank you to all who participated in the Earth Day cleanup this year! To see photos from the event, visit the volunteer page on our website. The 2026 Earth Day cleanup event was sponsored in part by a Litter Prevention Grant from PalmettoPride, and we are deeply grateful to Humble Pie/Life In Long Creek for hosting the post-event celebration and community pizza supper.
Next up, we plan to coordinate another volunteer litter cleanup at access points in the Chauga River watershed, in late summer or early fall 2026. To be notified about the future Chauga litter cleanup or other public volunteer opportunities, make sure you are subscribed to Chattooga Conservancy volunteer alerts.