During Saturday morning's Creek Week cleanup, about 30 volunteers headed to Mission North Park in Carmichael, where they found almost everything from plastics to dog poop.

"We found a big metal fence, we found balloons and lots of cigarette butts and soda cans, a bag of dog poop, lots of plastics, straws, lottery tickets, popsicle sticks, bottle caps, napkins..." said Carmichael resident Liz Cheyne.

Cheyne's group collected trash from the Chicken Ranch Slough, a creek that runs through Mission North Park. Among her group is Abby Blumer, 12, a first-time cleanup volunteer.

"It's interesting finding different items that we could use to build different things that people just throw away without thinking about it," Blummer said.

Along with Cheyne's group are students from Arcade Middle School and girl scout and cub scout pack members who didn't mind getting their feet wet and dirty.

One of whom is Girl Scout Troop 277 member Ruby Robrecht, 6, who said she might clean creeks again the next day.

"Awesooome!" she said when asked about cleaning the creek. "(We participate) so we can help the creek better...We have a creek where we live. We might clean up tomorrow."

Meanwhile, other groups walked along the park beside the creek to pull out weeds and other invasive plants. 

Sacramento resident Eric Hansen of the Cub Scout Pack 335 said participating in the cleanup allow kids to take an active role in taking care of the environment.

"That's probably the biggest benefit," Hansen said. "Nearly all of us are students at Mission Avenue School, and this is our local park. We use this park quite a bit, so it's our way of giving back."

Others did water monitoring, which is taking water samples from the creek and testing the water's purity, turbidity, and pH and oxygen levels. Results of the activity will be reported back to the California Environmental Protection Agency, said Monique Rogers of Girl Scout Troop 759.

"For the pH level, we want it to be about seven," Rogers said. "If it's high, it means it has a lot of acid to it. Low pH means a lot of base."

By noon, cleanup volunteers headed to Carmichael Park for a wrap-up celebration, games, earth-friendly exhibits, and free lunch and t-shirts.

Alta Tura, president of the Sacramento Area Creeks Council, said nearly 2,000 people volunteered to participate in cleanups in about 60 locations around Sacramento County. She said huge number of volunteers and amount of garbage collected made the event a success. 

"We were able to pull out things that would've released toxic material," Tura said. "They've been working hard, and people feel good about what they've done today."