Image From: https://www.codot.gov/programs/adopt-a-highway
At the end of March, I was driving from Parachute to Rifle and noticed people in orange vests picking up trash along the side of the road. I looked for a logo on the van but wasn't able to spot one; I looked for the "Adopt a Highway" sign and didn't see one.
Without more information, this is an open thank-you to the crew out cleaning up the highway in March. They were protecting our river.
How does cleaning a highway protect the river?
Hopefully if you have driven this stretch you have seen the mighty Colorado River from the car. The highway and river parallel one another. Collecting litter and trash from the roadway and surrounding banks might seem like something to merely make the drive more aesthetically pleasing, but it is a huge step in protecting river health.
The Greenway Foundation, a water protection group based out of Denver, completed a survey to assess water knowledge and river health in the area. They surveyed residents, asking them about their relationship with the closest river. The report found that 20 percent of the respondents could not identify where the closest river to them was, and 30 percent of the respondents couldn't name that river, even if they did know where it was. <READ MORE>
From the "Your Watershed" column in the Glenwood Springs Post Independent