The Watershed Awareness River Expedition (AWARE) will be making its way to the Raccoon River later this summer and there is still space to sign up to participate. 

Dallas County Conservation Board Outreach Coordinator Sarah Gilchrist says they’ve partnered with Project AWARE to clean up portions of the Raccoon River that includes Dallas County. 

“They do a great job helping clean up our rivers, pulling trash out of there. There’s some environmental programs that our group is going to be providing. On their website they just have some really impactful videos to show exactly what they do and it’s a pretty big deal and we are excited to be able to partner with them this year.”

Gilchrist tells Raccoon Valley Radio there is still time for people to sign up to participate in the program this year, which takes place from July 11th-16th for portions of the Middle and South Raccoon Rivers from Coon Rapids to Van Meter.

“They are accepting registrations for Thursday and Friday July 15(th) and 16(th) only. Interestingly Monday through Wednesday are already booked; they are at capacity for those. So, if you want to participate in that project I highly recommend getting to their website and registering very soon.”

Gilchrist says the early bird registration ends June 15th. For more information on Iowa Project AWARE and to register to participate you can go here.