At least 72 people participated in this year's Ukiah Valley Russian River Cleanup on Saturday, an annual effort to remove litter from a portion of the Russian River, and to prevent it from ending up in the Pacific Ocean. Last year, approximately three tons of trash and recyclables were collected from the waterway, a number that keeps decreasing, said Deborah Stranger-Edelman, project manager from the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District, which has helped organize the event the past five years, and also teamed up with the Mendocino County Water Agency and Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority.