More shoreline cleanups, more impact
January 15, 2025
Katie Leung
Senior Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator
katiel@riverkeeper.org
914-478-4501 ext. 256
Grab your gloves and gather your friends: Riverkeeper Sweep is growing! Riverkeeper’s largest annual volunteer program, Sweep engages shoreline communities along the Hudson River and its tributaries through service that includes removing heaps of trash, planting numerous native trees, and weeding out invasive plants. Traditionally held on the first Saturday in May, last year, 2,053 volunteers participated in 122 projects for the 13th Annual Riverkeeper Sweep, removing 23 tons of trash and planting or maintaining 1,465 native trees, shrubs, and flowers.
But caring for the river doesn’t end there. In 2024, with generous support from the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation, Riverkeeper expanded Sweep into an ongoing program, conducting cleanups, native tree plantings, and invasive species removals throughout the year. We also gave it a new name: Sweep+. Our aim is to continue to grow the number of project sites, volunteers, and impacts each year until Sweep+ is the largest volunteer clean-up program in New York State.
With your help, we were able to organize 28 additional projects over the course of last year, reaching a record-breaking 2,720 volunteers. These volunteers helped remove 198 tires, planted and maintained 1,721 native trees, shrubs, and flowers, and cleaned up 27 tons of debris — more than the weight of a New York City garbage truck! Our heartfelt thanks goes out to all the Sweep leaders who spearhead individual projects, as well as the volunteers, sponsors, local communities, and other partners including municipalities and nonprofits that helped make this possible.
Expanding Sweep allowed us to organize additional projects in places that need ongoing attention, such as Pier 35 in Manhattan and Moodna Viaduct in Orange County. It also meant we could start cleanups in new places, and create new partnerships with communities along the Hudson and its tributaries. For the first time ever, we organized a cleanup along the Mohawk River, the Hudson River’s largest tributary, at four different sites in Little Falls, NY in collaboration with Northstar Recycling and the Little Falls Marina.
We organized four new projects in collaboration with the NYC Council Member Susan Zhuang. This partnership was initiated by a local high school student who wanted to make an impact in her neighborhood of Borough Park, Brooklyn, which experiences flooding during large rain events. Any litter that is easily carried away by water can end up as sewage runoff in the New York City drinking watershed.
Borough Park volunteers and ACE employees working together to clean up
Since the site was on two streets near a subway station, we asked for support from the council member, who was eager to help. Zhuang’s staff hired a local nonprofit, ACE Programs, to provide additional workers and tools such as trash bags, rakes, and pruners.
After the success of the first project, the council member asked if we were interested in continuing with cleanups on a monthly basis. In total, 48 volunteers pitched in to collect 4,140 pounds of trash, including fence parts, supermarket carts, a small refrigerator, a toilet, TVs, a children’s dry-erase board easel, a Christmas doll, and a toy T-rex.
In addition to cleanups, three of the Sweep+ projects were tree planting and maintenance in Orange County. In May, we worked with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s “Trees for Tribs” program and planted 105 young native trees and shrubs at Little Falls Park by the Quassaick Creek in New Windsor. Species included red and silver maples, river birch, bitternut hickory, sycamore, basswood, speckled alder, silky and gray dogwood, witch hazel, ninebark, and swamp rose.
In September, we followed up with a maintenance project to prevent invasive species from covering the area and ensure the health and stability of the new trees. Over time, these plantings will contribute to a healthier ecosystem and protect surrounding properties from flooding during heavy rainstorms. We held another tree care project at a decade-old “Trees for Tribs” site at the Moodna Viaduct by Schunemunk Mountain. Volunteers cared for 46 trees, aligning the tree guards and removing and replacing broken tubes.
Across our Sweep+ projects, volunteers removed 3,635 pounds of invasive plants in 2024. At projects on Randall’s Island, volunteers removed invasive curly dock and mugwort. Clearing these invasive plants allows more light and space for native plantlife to flourish.
Volunteers replacing and repairing tubes to protect planted trees from white-tailed deer rubs at the Moodna Viaduct
One goal of Sweep+ is to increase the number of projects taking place in environmental justice communities. We are pleased to report that the majority of last year’s Sweep+ cleanups took place in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Upper Manhattan, Yonkers, New Windsor, and Newburgh. In order to promote lasting justice throughout the Hudson River watershed, Riverkeeper strives to support our partners when it comes to decisions affecting their environment and community health. Through our efforts, we aim to prioritize historically marginalized groups most impacted by environmental issues, reducing historic environmental harms, fairly reallocating environmental benefits, and supporting community ownership.
Over the last 13 years, Riverkeeper Sweep has gathered 24,640 volunteers to support 1,349 projects, collectively removing 382 tons of debris, including 37 tons of recycling and 2,287 tires. In the same period, volunteers have planted or maintained over 8,851 native trees, shrubs, and flowers, and removed thousands of pounds of invasive species.
We welcome you to participate in the 14th Annual Riverkeeper Sweep on May 3, 2025!
You can submit a volunteer interest form to receive an email with a full list of sites when registration opens on March 28.
- If you are interested in organizing a Sweep project and know the details of your proposed project, please submit a 2025 Riverkeeper Sweep site form.
- If you are planning on leading, but need help determining the details of your project, submit a Riverkeeper Sweep leader interest form.
- To get a sense of the timeline and process of leading a Sweep site, check out the Sweep leader checklist.
With your help, we look forward to making Sweep the biggest cleanup in New York in 2025.
Sponsors
We are truly grateful for the support from our sponsors and the time and volunteer hours these companies devoted to cleaning up the Hudson with Riverkeeper. Thank you!
Related campaigns
Riverkeeper Sweep campaign
Cleaning up shorelines along the Hudson River and its tributaries
Water quality monitoring
Riverkeeper is the go-to source for information about the quality of the water along the Hudson River and its tributaries
Protecting and restoring habitats
The Hudson River watershed is home to a breathtaking diversity of life. Protecting and restoring our aquatic habitats is critical for their renewal and for a healthy future for all life in the watershed
