By: Brian Henry and Jason Ino

On Sept. 6&7, city staff participated in the annual San Francisquito Creek inspection coordinated by the Joint Powers Authority. The purpose of the creek walk is to identify items such as downed trees and other large debris in the channel that could obstruct flows and pose a threat to public safety during large winter storm events. Items that needed attention were tagged and assigned to the appropriate entity for maintenance. Walking the length of the creek took 2 to four hours each day, depending on how many items were encountered. A total of 4 trees were identified as the responsibility of Menlo Park Maintenance staff; The City’s tree crew will cut these trees into 8’ sections before Oct. 15.

As part of Coastal Cleanup Day on Sept. 16, the City partnered with Grassroots Ecology and 168 volunteers to remove trash from the San Francisquito Creek. Crews removed seven shopping carts, 3,364 pounds of trash and 50 pounds of recyclable material from 1.5 miles of the Creek. Over the past decade, more than 300,000 pounds of debris have been removed from San Mateo County by the great work of volunteers during this annual event.