In a continued effort to help protect the ecosystem connected to Lake Superior, Loll Designs teamed up with Involta, the City of Duluth Parks and the Chester Bowl Improvement Club to organize the annual Clean Yer Creek Cleanup and Tree Planting, which was held on Saturday, April 27^th. Over the course of three hours, nearly 150 volunteers worked to collect trash and debris in three local creeks.  This year more than 4000 pounds of trash were removed from the Keene, Miller and Chester Creeks and 1000 trees were planted along Miller Creek. Teams of volunteers also planted and fenced several native species of trees along the Miller Creek, just off Trinity Road, in the Piedmont neighborhood. On this particular year, Clean Yer Creek pulled several plastic shopping bags and Styrofoam out of the creeks.  While we see the importance of cleaning this up, the big picture is prevention, and we would like to see our community reduce or eliminate their dependency on these prolific, single use plastics and contaminants. This is the goal of Bag It Duluth, a local campaign proposing a city ordinance to place a nominal fee on single-use carryout store bags and to phase out plastic-foam to-go containers.  To learn more about Bag It Duluth, visit their website at http://www.bagitduluth.org/ Other businesses who participated or sponsored this year’s event included Bent Paddle Brewing Company, Stoked Firewood, Just Take Action, Trail Fitters, OMC Smokehouse, Fairhaven Farm, Epicurean, Intectural, Verso, Sisu Solutions, WLSSD, Hartel’s/DBJ Disposal Company, Republic Bank, JS Print Group and Wussow's Concert Cafe.  “This is a great example of how local businesses and the community can come together to keep our creeks and parks clean and safe,” said Cheryl Skafte, Volunteer Coordinator for the City of Duluth Parks. The event continues to grow every year and with the help of our volunteers we hope to see this endeavor spread citywide and create more awareness on reducing our waste, dependency on plastics, and protecting our Lake Superior watershed.