From June 6–13, organizations, outdoor enthusiasts, land managers, educators, and communities across North America came together to celebrate PlayCleanGo^® Awareness Week 2026. Through webinars, social media, local events, educational resources, and our annual photo contest, participants demonstrated that preventing the spread of invasive species is a shared responsibility that crosses borders.

Hosted through a collaborative partnership between NAISMA, Invasives Canada, and CONABIO, this year’s celebration brought together partners from the United States, Canada, and Mexico to encourage simple actions that help protect the places we all love. Whether cleaning hiking boots at a trailhead, draining a kayak after a day on the water, using local firewood while camping, or sharing prevention messages with friends and family, thousands of people took part in building a stronger culture of invasive species prevention.

Since its launch in 2019, PlayCleanGo^® Awareness Week has continued to evolve, bringing together an expanding network of partners dedicated to protecting North America’s lands and waters from invasive species. This year’s celebration reflected one of the campaign’s most collaborative efforts to date, with expanded educational programming, multilingual engagement, and meaningful opportunities for people to learn, connect, and take action.

PlayCleanGo^® Awareness Week at a Glance

PlayCleanGo^® Awareness Week is about more than raising awareness. It’s about building community, creating connections, and inspiring action to help prevent the spread of invasive species. Here’s what that looked like in 2026. 

Community: A Continental Collaboration

PlayCleanGo^® Awareness Week is built on partnership. This year, more than 120 organizations across North America joined together to amplify invasive species prevention messages through social media, local outreach, educational programming, and community engagement.

Together with Invasives Canada and CONABIO, PlayCleanGo^® Awareness Week demonstrated the power of international collaboration. Organizations from across the United States, Canada, and Mexico shared resources, promoted prevention behaviors, and inspired outdoor enthusiasts to take simple actions that help protect forests, waters, trails, parks, and other natural areas from invasive species.

Connection: Learning Together

Education remains one of the most effective tools for preventing the spread of invasive species.

This year’s Awareness Week expanded educational opportunities by introducing a behavior change training before the official kickoff, followed by three webinars featuring experts from North and South America. More than 279 participants joined these educational events live, and webinar recordings have already received more than 100 additional views. Together, these sessions explored topics ranging from behavior change science and boot brush station partnerships to invasive species communication and international collaboration.

If you missed any of the sessions, webinar recordings are available on the PlayCleanGo and partner YouTube channels, allowing participants to continue learning and sharing these resources throughout the year. 

Featured Topics

• Applying behavior change principles to encourage invasive species prevention.
• Building partnerships to protect Washington’s shrub-steppe ecosystem through the installation of more than 50 boot brush stations.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of Parks Canada’s boot brush stations through collaborative research with the University of Alberta.
• Exploring communication strategies and regional case studies from Mexico and Chile to inspire invasive species prevention across Latin America.

Action: Turning Awareness into Stewardship

Awareness is only the beginning. The true success of PlayCleanGo lies in the actions people take every time they head outdoors.

Throughout the month of June, participants shared the places they love, the people they recreate with, and the simple prevention behaviors they practice through the PlayCleanGo^® Photo Contest. To give more people the opportunity to participate while enjoying the outdoors this summer, the contest has been extended through July 31, with winners to be announced in August.

Entries submitted so far showcase outdoor places and stewardship actions from across North America, including mountain trails, lakeshores, forests, deserts, parks, campgrounds, and other treasured landscapes. Rather than simply documenting beautiful places, these photos tell stories of connection and care. They demonstrate that small actions like cleaning boots, draining watercraft, using local firewood, and brushing off gear help protect the outdoor spaces we all enjoy.

Photo Contest Spotlight

There is still time to join the celebration. Submit a photo, vote for your favorites, and share how you PlayCleanGo to help protect the places you love. 

Thank You to Our Community

PlayCleanGo^® Awareness Week 2026 would not have been possible without the dedication of our partners, presenters, volunteers, and participants across North America.

We extend our sincere thanks to the more than 120 organizations that shared campaign messages, hosted local events, encouraged others to participate, and helped spread the importance of invasive species prevention. We are especially grateful to our Awareness Week collaborators, Invasives Canada and CONABIO, whose partnership helped make this a truly continental celebration, and to each of our webinar speakers for generously sharing their expertise.

Most importantly, thank you to everyone who chose to PlayCleanGo, whether by cleaning your boots after a hike, draining your kayak after paddling, purchasing local firewood, sharing prevention messages online, or simply inspiring others to protect the places they love.

Looking Ahead

While PlayCleanGo^® Awareness Week has concluded, invasive species prevention is a year-round effort.

You can continue to get involved by:

• Submitting a photo or voting in the PlayCleanGo^® Photo Contest through July 31. 
• Watching our webinar recordings on YouTube.
• Taking the PlayCleanGo^® Pledge.
• Sharing PlayCleanGo resources with your community.
• Practicing PlayCleanGo every time you head outdoors.

Since its launch in 2019, PlayCleanGo^® Awareness Week has continued to evolve, bringing together an expanding network of partners dedicated to protecting North America’s lands and waters from invasive species. This year’s celebration reflected the growing strength of that community through expanded educational programming, international collaboration, and meaningful opportunities for people to learn, connect, and take action. While Awareness Week has concluded, the actions it inspires continue every time someone cleans their boots, drains their kayak, buys local firewood, or shares the message with others.

Together, we’re protecting the places we love, one adventure at a time.