A member of the board of the Weyburn Youth Centre was surprised last year when she and her husband canoed along the Souris River and saw the trash that accumulates there.

There are plastic bags, pop cans and bottles, old tires, sometimes rotting beaver carcasses, even a picnic bench the odd time, said Arlene Wheeler on Tuesday. "It's kind of gross."

"Every time we go on the river we find garbage," said Wheeler, although less of it has been obvious this year because the water's so high.

So this year, Wheeler is organizing the centre to participate in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 10 a.m., starting at River Park. Anyone is welcome to participate, she said.

"We'll use canoes and also walk along the edge of the river banks on both sides," she said. "We're hoping we get a lot of people. I would like to see the city as concerned about it as the youth centre is."

Who would want to walk on the pathway when they see garbage in the river? she asks. "We want to get as much as possible out to beautify and make it safe as a habitat."

Last summer, Wheeler saw about six beaver along the city portion of the river but this year hasn't seen any lives ones. She's seen about three dead carcasses, she said.

City parks supervisor Claude Morin said employees clean the river banks up at least twice a year and try to respond quickly if they receive complaints.

"We trim the weeds on the banks and pick up the garbage and debris. We find tires and that sort of thing. Sometimes shopping carts or bicycles. Stuff tends to accumulate there," he said.

"It's not a good thing but it does happen."

As for beaver carcasses, Morin noted that almost the entire length of the river except the portion traveling through Weyburn is in the open.

"It's probably safe to say there are fish or animals and birds decomposing in it all the time. It's part of the cycle of life," he said. But the water goes through the city's water treatment plant before it runs through household taps, he said.

The parks department tries to protect the trees from beaver attacks by wrapping them in wire.

Wheeler said participants in the shore-line cleanup should dress in long pants and long-sleeved shirts, a good pair of shoes and a pair of good work gloves. It could be chilly but it will go on rain or shine, she said.

A barbecue will be held afterward for those who participate.

She prefers that people who want to be involved call either her or Brian Hopfe at the Youth Centre so they know how many people are coming.