In honor of Earth Day 2023, the Idaho Conservation League, in partnership with the city of Sandpoint, is hosting a clean-up event at City Beach and Lower Sand Creek on Saturday, April 22.

From 9 a.m. to noon, community members are invited to clear these local shorelines of garbage and debris.

ICL community engagement assistant Karissa Huntsman said this will be the first year the organization heads the event.

“The Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeepers used to host this event,” she said. “Last spring, they closed their doors and we took over their water quality monitoring programs. We hosted this event together last year to commemorate the transition. We had a wonderful turnout last year, and hope to make this an annual opportunity for people to come together and take care of the environment and this lake that we all love.”

Volunteers can check in at the City Beach Pavilion, 58 Bridge St., to receive gloves, garbage bags and instructions for areas to clean up. The city will also have opportunities for volunteers to rake sand, spruce up picnic tables and complete other tasks to get the park ready for summer.

Huntsman said she is still waiting to hear back from the city to see if the garbage collected will once again be able to be weighed like it was in 2022.

“Last year, around 500 pounds of trash was collected from City Beach and Lower Sand Creek,” she said. “We plan on having volunteers log what they collect so we can see which items are most commonly found.”

Evans Brothers Coffee is donating warm refreshments for the volunteers and ICL will be providing light snacks as well. The beaches are likely to be muddy or damp, so waterproof boots or shoes are highly recommended.

This event is free to attend and open to all ages.

From 9 a.m. to noon, community members are invited to clear these local shorelines of garbage and debris.