Brazos River Cleanup & Campout – Volunteer and Advanced Training Event

>>Record in VMS (including your travel time) as: VMS opportunity: Watershed and Waterway Protection: TMN Report Hours. Also, if you are part of the Texas Waters division of GLC, check the Texas Waters Specialist box to add this to your volunteer hours for that project.<<

Hey there, Texas Master Naturalists!

The Rio Brazos Chapter invites you to join us for the Ninth Annual Brazos River Cleanup and Campout – Friday afternoon, May 15, through Monday morning, May 18, 2026. River cleanup will be Saturday, May 16, followed by a day of volunteer and AT opportunities on Sunday, May 17. Event headquarters is a privately owned ranch on the Brazos River south of Glen Rose in Somervell County. Please mark your calendars!

What began in 2017 as a Rio Brazos Chapter training class project (in conjunction with the Friends of the Brazos), has grown into a long weekend of work, fun, and camaraderie among river-lovers and trash-haters from other TMN chapters and collaborating organizations. In 2023, this project earned the Texas Master Naturalist^TM Exemplary Project First Place Award at the State Meeting! Watch the video presentation shown at the TMN State Meeting here. This 14-minute video covers the history, evolution, and accomplishments of the Brazos River Cleanup project.

We welcome Texas Master Naturalists statewide to assist us with removing all the tires and trash we can float out from a stretch of the Brazos River where John Graves once paddled.

In addition to earning volunteer hours for the Saturday canoe flotilla cleanup and support tasks, there will be Advanced Training opportunities on Sunday. Examples of Advanced Training: Lectures and field sessions on insects (mothing!), aquatic ecology, riparian ecology, the night sky (stargazing!), and bird, plant, and geology walks. AND – food will NOT be in short supply! The long weekend also includes three nights of camping, cookouts, games, visiting with old friends, and meeting new ones.

Check the chapter website river cleanup page for more information and watch for a 2026 online registration form to be added soon.

If you have questions about the project or would like some tips on how to start a cleanup project on your section of the Brazos River, contact our project coordinator Bob Walker at [email protected].

We hope to see you there!

Kristina del Pino Borgstrom 

Rio Brazos Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist Program, President