{"id":265829,"date":"2026-04-25T11:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T11:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265829\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T11:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T11:59:14","slug":"how-to-get-involved-with-the-great-american-cleanup-in-el-paso-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265829\/","title":{"rendered":"How to get involved with the Great American Cleanup in El Paso County"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) \u2014 The “Great American Cleanup” is approaching and volunteers are picking up the essentials from Fountain Creek Watershed District. Gloves, trash bags, and buckets are in hand.<\/p>\n

People can get their hands dirty and collect trash all around El Paso County on May 2. There are over 100 cleanups<\/a> planned from Palmer Lake to Pueblo. <\/p>\n

One volunteer, Steve Ottemer, a teacher at Coronado High School, says he is bringing his students to Ute Valley Park.<\/p>\n

“We did Creek Week in the fall, cleaning up along the creeks, and now this spring ,we’re going to be cleaning up the park because we go there a lot for hikes and do a lot of outdoor learning in the park, so we felt like it would be a good time to give back and try and help promote the environment around Colorado Springs,” said Ottmer.<\/p>\n

People who want to get involved and join a crew can register by visiting tje Fountain Creek Watershed District’s website<\/a>. The Fountain Creek Watershed District can supply gear for those who want to lend a hand, or volunteers can bring their own tools and supplies.<\/p>\n

“It’s really important to try and give back to the community and let the students work with their civic responsibility,” said Ottmer.<\/p>\n

Local breweries are also offering deals to those who join in on the cleanup. <\/p>\n

“I just highly recommend anybody come out and pick up trash. They don’t have to even officially sign up. If you’re just walking along the trail and see a piece of trash, pick it up and leave no trace,” said Ottmer.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

‘It’s like this every day,’ Peterson SFB employee says traffic out of base could be safety hazard<\/p>\n

It’s an area with a lot of construction. That work has Peterson Road just outside the north gate of Peterson Space Force Base down to two lanes.<\/p>\n

‘It’s like this every day,’ Peterson SFB employee says traffic out of base could be safety hazard<\/p>\n

News Tips <\/p>\n

What should KOAA5 cover? Is there a story, topic, or issue we should revisit? Have a story you believe should make the light of day? Let our newsroom know with the contact form below. <\/p>\n

____<\/p>\n

Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5<\/a>, download and start watching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) \u2014 The “Great American Cleanup” is approaching and volunteers are picking up the essentials…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[99401,943,944,945,946,99402,138,140,139,99403,99404,99405,947],"class_list":{"0":"post-265829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-el-paso","8":"tag-cleanup-at-fountain-creek","9":"tag-colorado","10":"tag-colorado-news","11":"tag-colorado-pueblo-news","12":"tag-colorado-springs-news","13":"tag-creek-week","14":"tag-el-paso","15":"tag-el-paso-headlines","16":"tag-el-paso-news","17":"tag-fountain-creek","18":"tag-fountain-creek-watershed-district","19":"tag-great-american-cleanup","20":"tag-koaa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}