Clean the Dream 2020
On August 22nd, 2020, Risers 4 Rett, RMRA’s fundraising arm, had the opportunity to partner with renowned guides, Landon Mayer and Brandon Kramer, for their 5th annual Clean the Dream Event. The Dream Stream is a world-class stretch of water between the Spinney and Eleven-Mile Reservoirs in South Park, Colorado. With its large population of large, lake-run fish, the Dream Stream has become a very popular destination for anglers living throughout Colorado. Unfortunately, this increase in traffic has also created a problem with trash along the Dream Stream and the neighboring reservoirs. This not only is unsightly for those enjoying the river, but also presents some major environmental hazards for the river and wildlife in the surrounding area.
Landon and Brandon do the majority of their guiding on these waters and took it upon themselves to organize a river cleanup event five years ago. The Clean the Dream has grown each year and has the support of numerous sponsors. The event features a large raffle of items like Yeti coolers, fly Rods, a variety of Fishpond gear, and Scott sunglasses. There is typically a BBQ following the cleanup effort, however it was canceled this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
This year, Risers 4 Rett was invited to partner with the Clean the Dream event. We had around 20 people come out to volunteer, and we hope to grow this number in the coming years! In 2019, the event had around 125 total volunteers that gathered roughly 750 lbs. of trash collectively. However, in 2020 there were over 200 volunteers and the weight of the trash was well over 1,000 lbs.!
Though COVID-19 restrictions created some obstacles, Risers 4 Rett volunteers enjoyed a night of camping on Friday night at Eleven Mile State Park – just a couple hundred yards from the reservoir. As we look to the Clean the Dream 2021, we plan on reserving camp sites for both Friday and Saturday nights so that volunteers have the opportunity to fish, hike, or simply relax in this beautiful part of Colorado. We hope to see you there!
In the meantime, check out some pictures:
