Students from ISU biology clubs and members of other Ames area groups will wade their way through College Creek at 1 p.m. Saturday as part of a city-wide effort to make Ames look nicer.

This will be the third year of a cooperative effort to clean College Creek, said Courtney Davidson, junior in environmental sciences and president of the Soil and Water Conservation Club.

The groups will not be cleaning Lake LaVerne this year. The lake is too deep to wade into, which is why the creek and not the lake is being cleaned, said Brad Miller, resident associate for ecology, evolution and organismal biology and adviser of the Soil and Water Conservation Club.

Lake LaVerne empties into College Creek and doesn’t have a lot of flow, therefore it doesn’t tend to get as dirty as the creek, said Bob Currie, assistant director for facilities services for facilities planning and management.

The water quality of Lake LaVerne is excellent and gets a water treatment once a year to reduce algae growth and sludge, Currie said.

The cleanup begins at Lot 60 on Hayward Avenue and will continue upstream toward Sheldon Avenue, said James Colbert, associate professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology.

Eight groups have agreed to be part of this effort, including the Biological Sciences Club; Student Environmental Council; Soil and Water Conservation Club; Skunk River Navy; Squaw Creek Watershed Coalition; ISU Greening; Alpha Zeta and ISU Facilities Planning and Management.

Groups will be armed with rubber gloves, shovels, trashbags and a few Swiss Army surplus stretchers, which are meant for carrying people but “are great for carrying big, heavy loads of trash,” Colbert said. They expect to find normal trash items — such as paper and pop bottles — but also expect to find a bicycle, 50 gallon barrel and old tires.

Colbert said it is “dirty, tiring work” but it’s also an opportunity for a diverse group of people to share their interest and concern about environmental issues.

“You don’t need to be a member of any of those groups to help,” Colbert said. “If people show up, we’ll put them to work.”

Colbert said he is disappointed that in the course of a year College Creek has gotten so dirty.

“The basic point of this cleanup is to raise awareness about the unfortunate circumstances of our rivers and streams,” Colbert said. “They are treated like wastebaskets.”

Picking up trash won’t solve the problem of the damage people do to Iowa’s waters but it is a start, Colbert said.

Davidson said there will be 15 people from the Soil and Water Conservation Club because one of the club’s goals is to do a service for their community.

“This is a visible sign of how much we care about our community,” Miller said.