River Stewardship
Since taking over the reigns from the Fall City Community Association and their crew of volunteers in 2015, Fall City Floating has become central to the stewardship of the Snoqualmie River. Our river is beautiful, and we are doing everything in our power to keep it peaceful, clean, and transquill all summer long.
Here is a brief look at just a few of the ways that we help to take care of the Snoqualmie each summer!
River Patrol
The Fall City Floating River Patrol is on duty seven days a week, every week June to September. Our River Patrol consists of our most experienced employees using our powered Kayaks to patrol up and down the Snoqualmie between the Plum Accesses to Fall City.
The Patrol is tasked with crowd-control and real-time trash capture as a priority. This includes everything from calming rowdy groups on the river, watching for and preventing people from attempting to access private property, helping tubers with punctured tubes with patches and pumps, and picking up any trash they see floating down the river.
Each day, they perform a scan for any trash on the river banks on our entire 4 mile stretch of river. Additionally, they are equipped with underwater cameras and diving equipment to identify any trash on the bottom of the river and work on a weekly basis to clean up sites targeted for diving. Finally, they maintain our safety signage on the river.
Mesh Bags
Every group that comes through our store receives a mesh bag. This bag attaches to any standard river tube with a carabiner that can be looped around the handles. These bags can hold all size of trash that the tubers need to dispose of on the river. At the end of the float, floaters empty the mesh bags into our trash and recycling cans. We have 2000 bags, more than enough to cover a few busy weeks until we wash and reuse them.
We hope that the use of these bags will prevent any accidental littering that may occur on-river. What isn't contained within the mesh bags will be recaptured by our river patrol each day.
More Signage
We have improved the resources given to stationary signage. This includes alcohol enforcement in the King County Lot, reminders of safety procedures at the boat launch and on the river, and display more professional warnings on the river than our giant wooden boards.
We also have placed location markers that are useful for our river patrol and emergency services to identify floater locations on the river if an emergency or puncture should arise.
Site Clean Ups
Our outdoor crew, in addition to helping our customers ensure their gear is river-ready, are responsible for maintaining a clean environment in Fall City and on the river all summer long. We pick up everything from broken tubes to cigarette butts. Here is a look at the sites that we maintain and when we clean them:
Fall City Community Park (Main Parking Lot & Baseball Parking) - Daily
Fall City Community Park Beach, Exit Trail, and Trash Disposal Area -Daily
Downtown Garbage Cans, Parking Area from El Caporal Crosswalk to Dustbowl - Daily
Fish Hatchery Road (Sasquatch House to Fish Hatchery to Lower Falls Lot) - Daily
Fish and Wildlife Accesses on Fish Hatchery Road - Daily
On-River Beaches from Zurflueh to Plum Boat Launch - Daily Thursday - Sunday
Zurflueh Fish and Wildlife Access - Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Fall City Beach from 202 to Raging River Confluence - Monday & Friday
If you have a special project for us, please let us know and we are happy to help. Requests that are rude or offensive towards our crew will not be responded to.
