Russian River guardian Chris Brokate marks end of watch in Sonoma County

A local man was down by the surf with a bucket and a picker doing what he could, and the two decided to meet up the next Saturday. Brokate would bring some friends, “and that was our first cleanup,” he said.

During the ensuing months, Brokate developed a group of regulars soon known as the Garbage Patch Kids who pitched in on regular days to walk the river or canoe designated areas to clean up trash. A lot of what they pulled out of the river was deliberately dumped: car batteries, tires, furniture, televisions and other household goods, as well as small pieces of litter and trash.

Close work with homeless camps

But it was evident that homeless encampments along the water’s edges were a major source of debris, as well. Though initially disgusted by the sprawling expanses of garbage so often surrounding camps, Brokate soon came to understand that the lack of trash receptacles or disposal was part of the problem.

Soon he and his team were providing 55-gallon trash bags to people they met and picking them up weekly for transport to the dump.

What came to be known as the “Clean Camp” program empowered camp residents to do right by the environment and make their own surroundings more pleasant, but also held them accountable for their own actions. It was a unique approach that provided a model that has been extended up the river toward Cloverdale and into Ukiah, as well.

Brokate also has been invited to share his approach to others around the state, though it known beyond California, as well, he and McEnhill said.

The Clean River Alliance, which Brokate founded in 2016, formalized his litter removal efforts in a nonprofit. The group also worked with homeless individuals in Guerneville on weekly street cleaning efforts. Alliance members additionally provided weekly meals for the winter shelter at the local Veterans Memorial Building and met up with clients at the shelter on Thursday “Clean Days” to collect trash and hand over new garbage bags.

The group’s respectful relationships with members of the homeless community helped create a bridge through which service providers could expand their reach, as well, said Tim Miller, executive director of West County Community Services. That included taking temperatures and screening people in camps for COVID-19 last year, he said.

“I don’t know if there was anybody who was more creative and hard working in terms of direct service than Chris,” Miller said. “We talk a lot about collaborating, and we all do, but his work: It merged medical, environmental and housing together as well as improving the image of the homeless in the community like nobody else. His energy in making that happen was really extraordinary.”

He noted Brokate’s engagement of the homeless community was not always viewed positively. Some naysayers considered it enabling of illegal camping.

He “put up with a tremendous amount of ‘in your face’ — physically in-your-face, as well as social media attacks — for a long time,” Miller said. “And yet he and his team, because it’s not just Chris, persevered.”

When Brokate had first considered creating a nonprofit, he found a fiscal sponsor in the Russian Riverkeeper. In 2018, the Riverkeeper absorbed the Alliance’s work, putting Brokate at the helm of is Clean Team and making him an employee. The job allowed him to walk away from the green janitorial service he had operated in the county until then.

Brokate partnered with a wider network of groups and agencies, including county parks, to clear abandoned homeless encampments and collect trash on the Joe Rodota Trail during a period when more than 200 people were living there. Brokate and his crew also have installed straw wattles to contain toxic runoff on wildfire scars.

His plan in Ecuador is to dabble in real estate with his brother, who already brokers properties there, and use some of his earnings to fund beach cleanups of the sort.

He already hosted his first when he bought a house there in 2019. That 70-volunteer cleanup, on “one on of Ecuador’s dirtiest beaches,” collected about 4,000 pounds of litter over two hours.

He confesses it’s probably time he hang up his orange Clean Team tee and trash picker. His hip is a mess, and a shoulder injury that likely warranted medical intervention last year still lingers.

He has no relatives in California and wants to retire near family. And he wants to be able actually to retire — a dim prospect locally, given the high cost of living, he said.

A member of the Sebastopol Sunrise Rotary Club, he is excited to continue environmental work through connections in Ecuador he already has through the club, which has devoted new attention to the issues of the environment, clean water and plastic waste.

But he’ll keep his eye on Sonoma County, too, “watching from afar.”

“I always will be,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the volume of trash collected by Brokate and his team.