The neon shirts and bright yellow bags of more than 200 volunteers lined Pullman’s streams Saturday as the City of Pullman and the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute (PCEI) held the 12th annual stream cleanup.

This is an important event because no one wants to see garbage around their town, said Randy Stevens, implementation coordinator for PCEI.

“There are always disturbing things coming out of these creeks,” Stevens said.

During one stream cleanup, volunteers pulled a homemade go-kart out of the water, said Shilo Sprouse, Pullman City Stormwater Services field technician.

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PCEI’s relationships with the Center for Civic Engagement and Stormwater Services provide for great recruitment efforts and high volunteer turnout, Stevens said.

There were 45 volunteers in the first year.

“We love working with these people as a non-profit,” said Heather Huston, PCEI’s education manager.

In recent years, Pullman Transit has bused volunteers from the event’s meeting place to their stream cleanup locations.

“Pullman Transit has made a great event exponentially better,” Sprouse said.

To avoid missing any litter, the buses drop off volunteers at the edges of their cleanup areas and they work their way in, Sprouse said.

PCEI also collaborates with the City of Pullman and private landowners to operate the Adopt-A-Stream Program.

Since 2011, Adopt-A-Stream has allowed members of the community to “adopt” a segment of a stream and clean it up three times a year.

Those organizations and people who adopt stream segments receive recognition with a sign installed at a visible location.

“Over the last five years we have collected less litter,” Huston said. “That’s great because it means Adopt-A-Stream is working.”

“The community has been very supportive,” Stevens said.

PCEI is working on a lot of other ongoing stream restoration projects tackling temperature issues, nutrients, bacteria and turbidity, Stevens said.

PCEI also works with conservation districts and agricultural landowners to reduce harmful runoff from farmland and boost water and soil health in the surrounding areas, Stevens said.

Recently, hundreds of Environmental Science 101 students have worked with PCEI to study and restore some areas around Grand Avenue, Sprouse said.

“(PCEI) is gearing up for field trips and a watershed program for third graders,” Huston said.

PCEI encourages people to put their own plastic bags in pet waste disposal stations around Pullman, Sprouse said.

“It is a quick and easy way to donate,” he said. “I can really see this getting bigger.”

Pullman Disposal provided the event with trash cans and recycling bins, Stevens said. Les Schwab provided tire bags for litter collection.