Thursday February 13, 2025
Oakdale Leader —
This past Friday, it was a group effort focused on the Stanislaus River.
Eddie Eagleton of Oakdale Refrigeration Heating and Air Conditioning, along with his friend David Down of Expedition Apogee, and representatives from the ASTRO (Animal Shelter To Riverbank and Oakdale) Foundation Inc. in Oakdale spent a few hours on Feb. 7 cleaning up along the river near Cost Less on North Yosemite Avenue and the surrounding area. Eagleton, an Oakdale native, said that part of his commitment to cleaning up this area is because he grew up fishing and boating down the river and now shares the same activities with his family and wants to preserve the river and the surrounding landscape for future generations. Eagleton has spent more than 10 years cleaning and removing things from the river.
For events like this, he posts the information on Facebook or other social media platforms and volunteer workers from various groups, such as those from Expedition Apogee and ASTRO Foundation, step up to help. Eagleton comes in and cuts pathways through the overgrown brush so that volunteers can walk through and collect various debris that has collected along the banks of the river. He also helps when there are items that are too large to be removed by hand such as mattresses, recliners and other items that cannot be carried out by volunteers.