The friends of the San Pedro River , Bureau of Land Management, docents and volunteers met last Saturday to pick up trash along the San Pedro River in recognition of National River Cleanup Week.

Back dropped by the cries of a gray hawk, the sighting of a rare tropical kingbird and under the gaze of a watchful great horned owl, 16 volunteers scoured the banks of the river in the vicinity of the San Pedro House, retrieving more than 30 bags of trash.

Volunteers found large amounts of plastic bottles, clothes and backpacks, and the odd tire or two. The volunteers seems to enjoy themselves stomping through the grasses and brush along the rivers edge.

The BLM coordinator James Mahoney led people through the event and provided gloves, trash grabbers and extra bags.

Terri Metzger, docent and maintenance and event coordinator for the Friends of the San Pedro River , registered the group with American Rivers several months ago.

The San Pedro River is the last free-flowing river linking Mexico and the U.S. It provides a critical travel corridor for many species of birds migrating from South and Central America to North America and back. It is also one of the most biologically diverse areas in North American.