Keeping the Brazos River Watershed Free of 1,600+ lbs of Trash

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On May 21, 2025, the Gideon Lincecum Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists joined a state-wide cleanup across Texas watersheds as part of Trash Free Gulf’s initiative to prevent 800 tons of trash from ever reaching the Gulf of Mexico.

The results? Volunteers collected 1,621 lbs of unseen litter and heavy trash along the Brazos River! Our collective efforts ended this waste stream’s journey to the Gulf at the state highway 105 bridge dividing Washington and Grimes counties (between Brenham and Navasota).

Together, we:

  • Collected 27 bags of loose trash (cups, food containers, cans, plastic bottles, and other assorted small trash) weighing in at approximately 421 lbs.
  • Cleared 4 illegal dumpsites consisting of a large sofa, a large sectional sofa, 3 mattresses and 1 box spring, insulation (construction trash), car parts, and plumbing demo weighing in at an accumulative 800 lbs.
  • A random assortment of scrap wood, discarded appliances, and other bulk trash weighing in at about 400 lbs.

Every Texan lives in a watershed that drains to the Gulf. Let’s all do our part to keep Texas beautiful and free of land-based waste.

About the project: 

Presented by H-E-B’s Our Texas, Our Future, the Trash Free Gulf campaign united cleanup partners across the state in May 2025 to raise awareness for healthy streams, rivers, lakes, bays, and oceans. 

Special thanks to project leads Chuck Babb and Tayvis Dunnahoe, TMN-GLC President Sheri Wilcox, Wanda Anglin, Nancy Dunnahoe, Randy Hegemeyer, Jacquie Pritchard, John Pritchard, Jeff Post, and Louis Sellers for volunteering to keep Texas’s watersheds clean.
Wanda Anglin shares a before and after view of unseen litter along the Brazos River.
John Pritchard piles heavy debris for pick up by the Texas Department of Transportation.
The Brazos River stretches from its source in the Llano Estacado to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance spanning more than a thousand miles and crossing through the High Plains, Blackland Prairie, Edwards Plateau and Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes ecoregions.