On Wednesday, June 26, Uinta County Weed and Pest teamed up with the BEAR Board, Evanston Parks and Recreation District and local volunteers to conduct the annual Bear River Greenway weed pull and cleanup.

Chris Aimone with Uinta County Weed and Pest, who is the organizer for the event, said, “We’ve been doing this since 2001. It’s a good chance to educate the community on things they should be looking out for.”

She then pointed to a wild sweet pea and some small willows before turning her focus to some Canadian thistle. “This stuff can choke the roots of the local plants like this sweet pea and willow, that’s why we’ve gotta get it out of here.”

After reaching down and pulling the thistle, Aimone said with a laugh, “There was a lady earlier today who said we should call this the ‘thistle war.’”

Among the volunteers were local 4-H members, young women from the Hilliard Ward, the Uinta County Fair Royalty and employees from Bear River Dental as well as several other individuals and organizations.

“We might just have to count and compare bug bites,” said Marlene Mackey, mother of Uinta County Princess First Attendant Cheznee Mackey.

“Yeah,” said Cheznee, “but we get to ride the boats when we’re done!”

“Our company tries to do a good work project every quarter,” said Christina Turner, who had splintered off from the larger group with coworkers Mckall Thornock and Rebekah Harvey. Many of the volunteers also brought their children, including Destiny Sloan, whose daughter, Elora Sloan, pitched in to help with the Bear River Dental group.

Uinta County Weed and Pest took small marking flags and put them near the locations of weeds they found surrounding the greenway, then as the volunteers got to the greenway, the crew took them around and showed them what to do and also gave an explanation of the weeds and why they needed to be pulled.

The BEAR Board provided cold treats, gloves and tools, while Parks and Rec gave out tickets to ride the paddle boats on the ponds for free.