Yellowstone River Cleanup Team Receives Community Award
February 27, 2024 2024-02-27 20:44Yellowstone River Cleanup Team Receives Community Award
The Yellowstone River Cleanup team, under the direction of Rocky Mountain College's Yellowstone River Research Center, is the proud recipient of the 2023 Bright n' Beautiful Community Star Award. The annual Community Star Award was created by Bright n’ Beautiful in 2018 to recognize people in the community who have made an outstanding contribution to the beauty and well-being of Yellowstone County in the previous year.
The Yellowstone River Cleanup has been a laudable community event for years. Bright n’ Beautiful is recognizing this past year’s 17th Annual Yellowstone River Cleanup, which covered an area from Reed Point to the Bighorn River. With 74 volunteers (ranging in age from 12 to 86) the team set a record in total weight of unwanted materials removed from the Yellowstone in a single year. The haul included 390 tires and totaled 50,363 lbs.—over twenty-five tons.
Kayhan Ostovar, Director of the Yellowstone River Research Center and RMC professor, started the cleanup project with just six people and three canoes. It has since grown to about 75 volunteers, 32 different organizations, and over 115 tons of recyclable material, trash, and tires pulled out of the Yellowstone over the last 17 years.
Congratulations!
