VOLUNTEERS PITCH IN TO CLEAN RIVERBANK.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

While others spent a carefree Saturday morning walking, roller skating or jogging along the Los Angeles River, more than 35 volunteers were putting on heavy work gloves to collect trash from the riverbank.

Volunteers at the Friends of the Los Angeles River's 14th annual La Gran Limpieza (Great Cleanup) found plastic grocery sacks in abundance Saturday: tangled in the weeds, hanging from downed trees along the river, floating in the water and snagged on rocks. Even nastier things lurked in the depths.

``We've made a decision we're never going to use plastic grocery bags again,'' said Becky Hunt, 42, a Thousand Oaks antiques dealer. She spent Saturday morning collecting trash with her husband, Jeff, 46, an optical scientist with Boeing, and their 12-year-old daughter, Brianna.

The river volunteers also found other things: a wooden pallet, a blanket, a plastic bag filled with votive candles, and a lot of T-shirts.

``So far, it's just the clothing - no parts to go with it,'' Jeff joked.

``I didn't know there was so much stuff here,'' Becky Hunt said. ``I grew up in San Francisco, and recycling and conserving water was my life.''

``I think it's going to pay off,'' said Brianna. ``It'll help the pollutants and the river will stay cleaner.''

Jose Olivarria of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps brought eight of his students to help with the cleanup.

Rubyancy Estrada, 17, of Van Nuys was appalled by the trash she was snagging from trees with a stick and wondered aloud how safe the ocean water was where river channel's runoff flows.

``This is bad,'' she said soberly as she untangled yet another plastic bag from a fallen tree. ``I can't believe I actually go to the ocean.''

The cleanup had been planned for May 3, but because of rain the event was postponed by a week. Organizers said the rescheduling caused a reduction in the number of volunteers Saturday.

Even so, many volunteers said they found it hard not to help in this effort to make their community a better place.

Joyce Hatter, 49, Northridge, said she could stay only 90 minutes before going to her volunteer job as a docent at the Los Angeles Zoo. But she managed to fill two trash bags with discarded items she pulled from among the weeds.

``It's just nice to be here once in a while and have it cleaned up,'' said Hatter, who works as a clerk in the Los Angeles County Court of Appeals. ``I want to give back to something. I have time of my own.''

``I would feel bad if I didn't do this kind of stuff,'' said Reseda resident Janet Sarver, 52, a case manager with the Fulfillment Fund mentoring program.

Participating in cleanups gives volunteers a different perspective on their environment, Sarver said. She recalled how she and a teenager once spent three back-straining hours picking up cigarette butts and pieces of foam from the seashore. Then the teen saw a man carelessly toss a cigarette butt onto the beach.

``The kid flipped out,'' said Sarver, chuckling as she recalled his outrage. ``He said, 'Can you believe that?'''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Friends of the Los Angeles River volunteer Joyce Hatter of Northridge carries trash from the riverbank Saturday in Sepulveda Basin. The Great L.A. River Cleanup is held in spring at eight river sites from the Valley to Long Beach.

(2) L.A. River volunteer Scott Firestone of Encino bags the trash he collected during Saturday's cleanup effort along the river in Sepulveda Basin.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer