Raccoon River near Jefferson

The Watershed Awareness River Expedition (AWARE) is now open for volunteers and aims to clean up the Raccoon River in Guthrie and Dallas counties. 

Registration for this year’s Iowa Project Aware is now open and will look to clean up the Middle and South Raccoon Rivers on July 11-16 and will have hundreds of volunteers cleaning up 63 miles of the river between Coon Rapids to Van Meter. 

This is the eighteenth year of the program as it was paused for the pandemic in 2020. During the cleanup participants will paddle canoes searching for trash in the river and along the riverbanks, and attend educational programs throughout the week. 

Participants can register for as many days as they like and all equipment and meals are included in the registration fee which is $30 per day until May 15th, then $35 per day until June 15th and $45 per day after June 15th and there is a special Sunday registration for $10. 

For more information on the program, costs to attend and to register as a volunteer you can go here.