PlayCleanGo Awareness Week

Join us for PlayCleanGo® Awareness Week, taking place June 6–13, 2026, across North America. The North American Invasive Species Management Association (NAISMA) invites outdoor enthusiasts, land managers, recreation partners, and communities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico to take part in this annual campaign, which empowers everyone who enjoys the outdoors to take simple, effective actions to prevent the spread of invasive species and protect the places we love.

PlayCleanGo® Awareness Week is held each year in early June, beginning on National Trails Day and ending on National Get Outdoors Day. Throughout the week, partners and individuals share outreach, stories, events, and resources that encourage everyone who spends time outdoors to take simple prevention actions and help Stop Invasive Species in Your Tracks™.

What Is PlayCleanGo® Awareness Week?

PlayCleanGo® Awareness Week is a continent wide outreach campaign coordinated by the North American Invasive Species Management Association (NAISMA) in collaboration with partners across North America, including Invasives Canada and CONABIO in Mexico.

The campaign encourages people to take simple actions that help prevent invasive species from spreading between trails, parks, waterways, forests, and other natural areas.

Whether you’re hiking, biking, paddling, camping, horseback riding, climbing, fishing, or exploring your local parks, you can help protect ecosystems by cleaning your gear and being mindful of how invasive species can spread through outdoor recreation.

Why It Matters

Invasive species can spread unintentionally when seeds, plant fragments, or aquatic organisms hitch a ride on boots, tires, boats, pets, and outdoor gear.

These introductions can harm ecosystems, reduce biodiversity, impact agriculture and forestry, and alter outdoor recreation experiences.

By promoting simple prevention practices such as cleaning gear, brushing off mud and seeds, draining watercraft, and checking equipment before traveling to a new location, PlayCleanGo® helps reduce the risk of spreading invasive species to new areas.

Since its launch, PlayCleanGo® Awareness Week has:

• Engaged partners across North America including federal, state, provincial, tribal, and local organizations
• Reached outdoor recreation audiences through outreach campaigns, events, media, and educational resources
• Promoted science based prevention messaging that supports long term behavior change and stewardship

How to Get Involved

There are many ways to participate in PlayCleanGo® Awareness Week and help spread the message:

• Share PlayCleanGo® prevention actions on social media using #PlayCleanGo and #PlayCleanGoWeek
• Download and use the Outreach Toolkit to access ready to use graphics, messaging, videos, and outreach resources
• Participate in webinars and events featured during PlayCleanGo® Awareness Week
• Add your events to our PlayCleanGo® Awareness Week calendar!
• Take the PlayCleanGo® Pledge and encourage others to do the same
• Submit photos to the PlayCleanGo® Photo Contest and show how you protect the places you love
• Partner with us to reach the outdoor recreation community through local events, videos, social media, and media outreach.
• Tag PlayCleanGo® so we can help amplify your efforts:
  • @PlayCleanGo on Facebook and Twitter
  • @Play.Clean.Go on Instagram

Outreach Toolkit 

The PlayCleanGo® Awareness Week Action Toolkit is now available and includes ready to use resources to help partners, organizations, and individuals participate in the campaign.

The toolkit includes:

• Toolkit guide and resource overview
• Social media graphics and sample captions
• Outreach and messaging templates
• Press release and proclamation templates
• PlayCleanGo® logos and campaign materials
• Multilingual outreach resources
• Links to webinars, events, videos, and partner resources

Whether you are hosting an event, sharing information online, or encouraging stewardship in your community, the toolkit makes it easy to participate in PlayCleanGo® Awareness Week and help protect the places we love.

You can also explore additional outreach materials throughout the PlayCleanGo® website, including prevention messaging, educational graphics, and downloadable resources for outdoor recreation audiences across North America.