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SBCCC in the News

December 1, 2023 - Palo Alto's 1st beaver rescue has implications on future of species - More...

November 28, 2023 - San Jose creeks sees explosion in spawning salmon - See Video...

November 28, 2023 - Experts explain why salmon run seeing record numbers, sizes in parts of Bay Area - See the video...

December 15, 2022 - Chinook Salmon Return to Santa Clara County
A growing number of wild Chinook salmon are turning up and spawning in a most unlikely place: an urban watershed in the South Bay. Steve Holmes used to fish for salmon in the wild rivers of Alaska. Now he gears up to help save the salmon in the polluted urban streams of Santa Clara County. "This waterway, the Guadalupe watershed, is the furthest south on the North American continent where you have Chinook salmon coming into an urban setting to have a re-occurring spawning event each year," said Holmes, who founded the environmental non-profit, the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition.

September 21, 2021 - Dan Ashley of ABC News reports on recent beaver activity along the Los Gatos Creek by the newly created mural in Campbell.

April 30, 2021 - Are Chinook salmon native to the Guadalupe River? Ancient DNA might give us a clue A local advocacy organization, the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition, removes trash and collects salmon carcasses along the river and creeks, is working with scientists at UC Davis to identify the fishes’ origin. Some have been found to be genetically unique to the Guadalupe, said Coalition fisheries biologist Brian Allee. Read More...

April 30, 2021 - Are Chinook salmon native to the Guadalupe River? Ancient DNA might give us a clue A local advocacy organization, the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition, removes trash and collects salmon carcasses along the river and creeks, is working with scientists at UC Davis to identify the fishes’ origin. Some have been found to be genetically unique to the Guadalupe, said Coalition fisheries biologist Brian Allee. Read More...

March 7, 2021 - New mural adds color to Guadalupe River trail — but it needs people, too. There will be a big park clean-up and activation at Arena Green scheduled for March 13. Steve Holmes and the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition will have one of its regular bi-monthly cleanups at 9 a.m., starting near the St. John Street bridge. They always can use more hands, and volunteers can sign up here. > > Read More About the Mural...

July 18, 2020 Guadalupe River kayak ride offers new view of Downtown San Jose. The visit was timed to coincide with a midweek cleanup by the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition, which has hauled out more than 345 tons of trash from Los Gatos Creek and the Guadalupe River since 2013. Read More...

April 2, 2019 SAN JOSE KRON4 - Trash from homeless camps impacting South Bay waterways. A perfect storm -- that's how a South Bay environmental watchdog organization describes the impact homeless camps are having on local waterways. see the article and broadcast

April 2, 2019 NBC BayArea featured SBCCC. Having hundreds of homeless camping directly adjacent to our creeks has rendered our streams to a Third World pedigree. see the editorial

January 15, 2019 NBC BayArea featured SBCCC. We have much to be proud of as a Community driven effort that is making huge strides recovering our local Waterways! Thanks to all the Volunteers, Team Leaders, Staff & Community Partners whose continued support makes this all work. see the broadcast

December 12, 2018 KPIX
Salmon Return to Once Pollutes Streams in Santa Clara Valley
Santa Clara Valley's once badly-polluted streams are running clear again. As Len Ramirez reports, the salmon have noticed. (Read More)

December 12, 2018 KCBS Radio
Wild Salmon Return To South Bay Waterways After Extensive Cleanup
Wild Chinook salmon have begun swimming through the streams of Silicon Valley again after volunteers removed large amounts of garbage from the clogged creeks. And all of that litter has inspired some unique art. (Read More)

June 27, 2018 Bay Nature
The Guadalupe River and the Hidden Heart of San José”
San José is a river city, split neatly from north to south by the Guadalupe River, a 14-mile waterway that can flood with 14,000 cubic feet per second of water in the winter and shrink to mostly dust in the summer. Castillo describes times of wading hip-deep through the underground storm sewers of the city, amid a thousand juvenile salmon fry. (Read More)

January 22, 2018 Mercury News
Guadalupe River salmon are at a perilous crossroads
News stories dating as far back as Feb. 22, 1904, in the San Jose Daily Mercury, confirm the presence of salmon. The public should have a say in whether these fish are given a chance to coexist in our Guadalupe Watershed. (Read More)

December 19, 2017 Mercury News
Illegal Fish Traps Removed from Guadalupe River
San Jose residents are being asked to keep an eye out for people setting illegal fish traps in local waterways after city workers and South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition volunteers recently broke up several found in the Guadalupe River. The traps were discovered about two weeks ago under the Julian Street ...  (Read More)

June 30, 2017 Mercury News
Beaver sightings reported in Los Gatos Creek in Campbell
About two months ago, Douglas Hawes was stopped by two men asking for help identifying a brown animal near Los Gatos Creek.  (Read More)

April 2, 2017 Mercury News
Environmentalists criticize Almaden Lake cleanup plan
An Almaden Lake cleanup project meant to help San Jose’s wildlife could actually do more harm than good to fish living in... (Read More)

March 13, 2017 Mercury News
Volunteers credited for helping to clean South Bay creeks
Persistence and dedication to keeping San Jose’s waterways clean is starting to pay off for volunteers from the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition.  

But preserving the habitats of local creeks as animals like beavers and Chinook salmon return to them is a struggle, according to coalition founder Steve Holmes.  (Read More)

October 26, 2016 Mercury News
More garbage, homeless camps reported along Los Gatos Creek
Volunteers who regularly clean up San Jose’s waterways have reported a significant uptick in homeless people camping along Los Gatos Creek

South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition members say the amount of trash in the creek also has increased as a result, ever since California Department of Fish and Wildlife game wardens recently stopped patrolling the area. (Read more)

September 13, 2016 San Jose Inside
Volunteers Needed for 32nd Annual Coastal Cleanup Day
As thousands of people prepare to tidy up the oceanfront for Coastal Cleanup Day this weekend, a recruitment effort is underway to bring thousands more litter picker-uppers to the South Bay’s inland creeks.(Read More)

August 13, 2016 City of San José Uses Citizen Engagement to Transform Waterways
Steve Holmes, founder and executive director of South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition (SBCCC), tells us what the Guadalupe River in San José, CA was like before he created Team 222. (Read more)

December 25, 2015 ABC Local News 
December Rains Only Inches Bay Area Out Of Drought
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- All this rain is certainly welcome, but it's not raising the levels of regional water reservoirs -- at least, not by much. Most are seeing negligible, if any increase.

Looking at the Guadalupe River in San Jose, it's a little disappointing looking at the water level. Still, this is not unexpected. Local water agencies say the rainfall we've had in the Bay Area isn't producing enough runoff to fill reservoirs, even as some of our local creeks are seeing an increase in flow. (Read more)

December 24, 2015 San Jose Mercury News 
Coalition gets $60,000 grant to seek help for San Jose creek cleanup efforts
A $60,000 grant recently awarded to the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition will be used to help it recruit volunteers to clean up San Jose's waterways, give presentations and organize a citizens network to monitor Los Gatos Creek. (Read more)

September 9, 2015 San Jose Mercury News
Residents urged to clean up a nearby creek to help protect the coast
California Coastal Cleanup Day is not just about picking up litter on the beach.  As importantly, it is also about stopping trash from getting there in first place by way of creeks, rivers or streams. (Read more)

August 8, 2015 San Jose Mercury News
River that runs through downtown San Jose goes dry; fish and wildlife suffer
On a recent afternoon at Guadalupe River Park in the heart of downtown, a couple strolled hand-in-hand, a mother pushed her toddler in a stroller, and soft breezes rustled the leaves of stately trees near the home of the San Jose Sharks.  But something was missing: the river. (Read more)

July 23, 2015 San Jose Mercury News 
Steve Holmes: San Jose needs to step up to protect creeks
For the past two years, Friends of Los Gatos Creek, an affiliate of South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition, has been conducting cleanups along creeks in Santa Clara County. We have tallied an astounding 76 cleanups. On our most recent event, June 4, we had 55 volunteers from Google, Santa Clara County Parks and the Friends team leaders converge on Los Gatos Creek in downtown San Jose. (Read more

July 8, 2015 Hilltromper Silicon Valley
TEAM 222 To Continue Watershed Cleanup
The South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition (SBCCC) reached a landmark 100 tons of trash cleared out of Los Gatos Creek early last month. With another clean-up scheduled for July 11, that number is sure to continue to rise. (Read More)

June 11, 2015 NBC Bay Area News Report
South Bay Man Leads Effort That Removes 100 Tons Of Trash From Local Creek
Golf, it turns out, just wasn't going to cut it for Steve Holmes.
The semi-retired San Jose salesman and business owner, tried to fill his post-career free time the way many people do, with time on the links and other leisure pastimes. Still, Steve felt something was missing.
"I wasn't fulfilled," Holmes said.
Fortunately for Holmes, the life-long fisherman stumbled across an online video that intrigued him.
"This gentleman had filmed a Chinook Salmon coming up the Guadalupe (River) during a storm period," Holmes said.

May 7, 2014 San Jose Inside News Article
Volunteers Pick up the Slack at Our Parks, Trails
Severe budget cuts had a devastating impact on our creeks and rivers.  Cuts to the ranger program resulted in homeless encampments, vandals and thoughtless residents filling our creeks with batteries, refuse, shopping carts, tires and the like. Steve Holmes, a local businessman, created Friends of Los Gatos Creek (FOLGC) and has led volunteer efforts to clean the creek and the adjacent trail at several access points. (Read More)

April 22, 2014 KPIX News Report and Article
San Jose Volunteers Backstop City In Massive Trash Cleanup Effort
There are about 1,500 squatters living in the creeks of Santa Clara County dumping mountains of garbage in the waterways.  Government agencies simply can’t keep up with the tsunami of trash. After seeing how the litter was killing Chinook Salmon in his neighborhood, Steve Holmes founded “Friends of Los Gatos Creek” and organized cleanups with an army of volunteers… (Read More)
 

April 5, 2014 Mercury News Article
Rise of San Jose homeless encampments arouses concern, cleanups in blighted neighborhoods
In the heart of Silicon Valley, City and County leaders had ceded the Guadalupe River, Coyote Creek and Los Gatos Creek to encampments of the luckless, dispossessed and often mentally ill people. They became filaments of filth, a river of garbage and human waste. Friends of Los Gatos Creek, an all-volunteer group formed a year ago by Steve Holmes, a recreational fisherman, stepped in to attack hot spots once a month and so far has hauled 50 tons of trash from the creek's banks and bridges… (Read More)

February 5, 2014  ABC TV News - The Beaver Story
A wonderful ABCNews video of Steve Homes, Friends of Los Gatos Creek where a beaver has appeared on the Los Gatos Creek… (Video Not Available)

November 22, 2013 San Jose Mercury News Article
Los Gatos Creek: Shopping cart art calls attention to endangered salmon
As a tribute to their efforts three black Shopping Cart Chinook salmon appeared on the creek trail between Bascom and Hamilton Avenues. Blending the carts and fish in works of art seemed fitting after Friends of Los Gatos Creek volunteers pulled 18 shopping carts out of the creek at just one cleanup site. .. (Read More)

October 3, 2013 San Jose Inside News Article
Los Gatos Creek: Environmental Volunteers at Work
Two summers ago, hundreds of volunteers worked to clean this creek, removing mountains of trash.  (Read More)
 

August 30, 2013 San Jose Mercury News Article
A friend for Los Gatos Creek
About a year and a half ago, a group of Delmas Park residents met at the Guadalupe River Trail to discuss the garbage and growing homeless population that dotted the trails of the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos Creek. One resident, Steve Holmes, started Friends of Los Gatos Creek, a volunteer campaign to clean up the creek, educate community members and attempt to restore the salmon population in the most urban creek in Santa Clara County.  (Read More)