Learn how volunteers pulled more than three tons of discards and garbage from Johnson Creek in a single morning …
Across the Johnson Creek watershed, this pile of trash represents only a small portion of what volunteers pull from the creek and its banks during the newly-renamed Walt Mintkeski Johnson Creek Clean-up.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Many in Southeast Portland are astonished each time they hear of the amount of trash and garbage that folks fish out of Johnson Creek. But every year, the cleanup justifies its annual status by the volume of discarded junk volunteers pull up out of this important waterway.
This year’s creek cleanup took place on an overcast Saturday morning – August 22nd – and drew some 140 determined volunteers to the banks of Johnson Creek.
The Johnson Creek Watershed Council (JCWC), the organizer of each creek cleanup, announced that, beginning this year, the annual effort will be known as the “Walt Mintkeski Johnson Creek Clean-Up” in lasting honor and memory of the Woodstock-based organization’s founder. The new name serves as a lasting tribute that will appear on future outreach, volunteer sign-ups, and event publicity.
Volunteers lead the effort
Continuing to be central to the event, volunteer co-organizer Melanie Klym provides information to participants.
JCWC Community Engagement Coordinator Amandeep Sohi emphasized how it’s the volunteers who are essential to the clean-up’s success. “Melanie Klym remains a volunteer co-organizer of this,” Sohi explained.
“She is essential, coordinating between site captains, leading the training they undergo to ensure that they are familiar with the conditions of the creek, what items to take out and how to remove them, and do it safely,” he said.
Working along the banks of Johnson Creek at Bell Station, volunteers Yashica Palshikar and David Livengood remove debris from the watershed.
In the water at the Luther Road site, these two volunteers pull trash from Johnson Creek.
Teams checked in and then spread out to nine locations along Johnson Creek. Volunteers pulled on waders and gloves, stepped into the shallow water – avoiding any deep holes – and worked along the banks to remove debris that had built up over the past year.
“We were so lucky to have about 140 volunteers participate in this year’s clean-up,” Sohi observed. “It’s so wonderful to see the community show up to steward this really beautiful and precious resource that we have.”
Ankle deep in Johnson Creek, this volunteer plucks trash from the water.
Focusing on the trashiest stretches
This year’s target areas were not chosen at random. JCWC staff and volunteer leaders focused attention where it was needed most, Sohi told East Portland News.
“In terms of the locations where we sent volunteer teams, we wanted to focus on parts of the creek that seemed to have a lot of trash – and parts of the creek that we weren’t able to clean last year,” Sohi pointed out.
With bags of trash he has just hauled up from the creek in the Lents neighborhood, volunteer Lowell J. Mitchell poses with the debris.
One site in particular illustrated how quickly conditions can change along the creek. “For example, last year the water at SE 92nd Avenue was too high, so we had to skip that portion of the creek,” Sohi recalled. “However, this year, the water was low, and revealed a lot of trash for our volunteers to remove.”
Across all nine chosen sites, volunteers waded through murky pools, ducked under vegetation, and worked along steep banks to reach discarded items that otherwise would have continued to wind up in the waterway.
Deep in the brush along Johnson Creek, also in Lents, volunteer Laura Tochko holds up a busted bike she found during the clean-up.
7,160 pounds out of the creek
By early afternoon, the scale of their effort was clear. “Volunteers pulled 7,160 pounds from the creek, equivalent to 1,161 cubic feet,” Sohi reported. “At one site alone, 620 pounds of trash was hauled away.”
A separate volunteer team collected the bagged trash and larger items from staging points along the creek, ensuring nothing found its way back into the water.
Volunteers Gail Chastain and Noah Jenkins show off the “onesie” found at Johnson Creek Park.
Tires, carts, tapes, and a ‘onesie’
The clean-up turned up the usual assortment of tires, metal, and household debris – and a few surprises.
“Perhaps the most interesting item was an adult-sized ‘onesie’ nightie,” Sohi related. “But also included a not-so-great-condition first edition copy of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, and a stash of 80’s music cassette tapes that some volunteers saved to add to their personal collections.”
Those oddities came on top of a long list of more familiar junk.
“Some of notable things to come out of the creek include: 28 tires, 5 shopping carts, 1 bicycle, 2 metal chairs, 3 suitcases, 100 feet of hose, 1 pallet, many sleeping bags, blankets, and rugs, and lots of stuffed toys like Disney’s Minnie Mouse and Eeyore,” Sohi outlined.
Each item that left the creek represented less pollution in the waterway, less hazard for wildlife, and a cleaner experience for people who live, work, and play along the corridor.
At the luncheon roundup, JCWC Community Engagement Coordinator Amandeep Sohi and Executive Director Jennifer Hamilton serve tamales to volunteers.
Damp but smiling; sharing a meal
Despite the weight of what they pulled from the creek, the mood at Johnson Creek Park remained upbeat as volunteers compared stories and mud stains.
“It’s really fun to see folks get in the creek with their new t-shirts, and come out muddy with huge smiles on their faces, excited about how much trash they removed from the creek,” Sohi reflected.
Sharing stories and swapping tales, volunteers relax at the luncheon gathering after the Johnson Creek clean-up.
After hours in the water, a free luncheon of tamales and treats drew volunteers together from all nine sites. Over food and conversation, first-timers and veteran participants traded stories about the oddest finds, most challenging stretches, and the satisfaction of seeing a cleaner creek behind them.
What are JCWC volunteers doing this week? Check their site: CLICK HERE.
© 2026 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
