Last time I scaled the side of a too-steep coulee, a deep pool on the Oldman River below suggested I might not want to slip or otherwise go back down. Straight up – the only other way out of the predicament – was just about as daunting. I swore that if I got out of it, I’d never do that again.

I did it again Monday on the coulee above Bridge Drive West. I had joined 18 other volunteers in the first drop-in for the Coulee Clean-up, organized as part of Earth Day/ Week/Month by the Helen Shuler Coulee Centre staff led by Special Projects Co-ordinator Becky Little. Enough garbage was easily accessible near the road, but the Thorny Buffalo Berry and wild rose bushes up the slope made fast hangers for packaging materials, newspaper and plastic bags. So, a few of us made like mountain goats to pick the side-hill clean, the creek below wet, but no Oldman.

Fellow goat, Jim, said we were sure not to find money because “people don’t throw away what’s important to them,” while decrying the piles of plastic and polystyrene foam let loose on the environment.

Here, wind brought the trash to its current resting place and, beneath a great, arching sky would occasionally reach into the yellow plastic garbage bags and yank out some of the collection. You learned fast how to open the bag to put trash in without letting any back out. Not so fast was figuring out how to fasten the ties on the orange safety vests provided for everyone.

Anyway, after 90 minutes, we picked our way down from the coulee slope, deciding not to follow a much younger participant who was not averse to sliding on her butt part of the way. We took the long way, traversing and slipping only occasionally.

It was worth it, even to look back and see a cleaner coulee.

This is the second year for the clean-up, after last year’s event exceeded all expectations. It seems to have caught on, says Becky.

“In total last year, we had 23 organizations registered to provided volunteers. This year, we’ve just started and we already have 25 groups,” including Grade 11 and 12 Alan Watson science students Tuesday.

The clean-up kick-off featured four toddlers, aged 1 ½ to 4 from Char’s Day Home, pitching in by the snow fences at West Highlands.

The drop-in part of the clean-up was organized after Becky received a lot of phone calls from individuals who wanted to get involved, but not as part of a formal group.

“The environment is really big now,” she says. “People get very emotional and want to do something about it.”

Earth Day Canada itself has been a force since 1990 providing “Canadians with the practical knowledge and tools they need to lessen their impact on the environment.”

The clean-up, which continues to May 10,  is “a great way to make people aware of the amount of the garbage that ends up damaging the environment and the water supply,” says Becky. “We can all take responsibility for not caring enough about that.”

However, she says the campaign has been a good starting point for people to change their habits year round to lessen the impact and show support for their community.