Last Saturday the Boardman River was in flood stage, so several sections of the Boardman River Clean Sweep had to be cancelled. It was not a safe situation. Most paddlers find it tough to stop, land or find anything when the current is moving so fast that just about all you can do is hang on and the water is covering up all the trash. As soon as we saw what was happening, John and I decided to reschedule the actual cleanup for the following week, in order to give the river time to return to its banks and to its normal flow levels.
Here is the river just below Brown Bridge on Saturday. Jocelyn, Norm, Roseanne and David went anyway.
Here is a photo of the same spot on Friday when we did the rescheduled cleanup.
Even on fairly short notice, we got an excellent turnout from local TAPC members who care deeply about our hometown river.
The lucky ones were:
Thursday (Shumsky to Beitner): John, Harold, Judy, Fred, Tracie, Norm, Lois & Bill
Friday (Brown Bridge Dam to Shumsky): Judy, Gail, John & Rosario, Jim, Lois, Fred, Jocelyn, John, Tracie & Karen
Both days offered sunny skies and warm temps, so that anyone who had to step out of his or her boat to retrieve trash didn't have a problem with getting into the water. See John W and Harold getting into the river below - their motto is "We leave no beer can untouched!" We got help from a few innocent bystanders with hauling boats and gear at the accesses. Several folks thanked the club for our contribution of the porta-potty at Shumsky. Each day we came away with several large bags of trash, plus a few items that wouldn't fit into a bag.
Interesting finds were a refrigerator door handle, a nice cold beer hidden under a bridge (spotted by Tracie - who looks up? - and knocked down by Jim), and a full six pack of (what else?) Bud Light in a nice soft sided cooler. Judy was the spotter, and Norm sent me into the fray to retrieve it. He did apologize later for the covering of cedar leaves all over my shirt, and under my knees (a bit annoying when you're canoeing on your knees). It was worth the sacrifice.
The largest items we found were wooden. Within the first two minutes of Thursday's trip, Norm spotted the brown and white "Shumsky access" sign in the middle of a mess of brush, and deftly steered me underneath so I could retrieve it. We were paddling in a brand new tandem canoe (fondly christened the "mother ship"), and got along great. John dug out the Wicksall Bridge sign from a log jam, and Norm returned it to its rightful owner later in the day. The flood last weekend had done its thing and knocked down several signs. The little boy statue sitting on the end of a dock was high and dry on Thursday, even though a few days before, he had been up to his knees in the river.
Rosario spotted a blue jacket, which Tracie kept her eye on, Karen loosened from the log, and I yanked until it came free. Great teamwork! Alas, it was not a valuable garment, which we discovered when we saw the Nascar logo on the zipper pull. John W managed to wrangle some nasty wooden planks filled with nails, and Jocelyn was there to take on larger stuff that others offered her as booty. John H made sure nobody got into any dicey situations, and Gail tried her hardest to find the tightest spots to explore and look for trash.
Fred was quite amazing using a canoe paddle in his whitewater play boat (note to self: make sure that you have matching halves of any kayak paddle you put into the car). And of course, his feet stayed dry. Bill showed up unexpectedly; he hadn't been on a club trip since 2010, and forgot the hit "complete registration".
We encountered some wildlife: ducks, geese, dragonflies, and several friendly golden retrievers. And the wildflowers are out in force; the banks were awash in purple and yellow irises.
A special thanks go to all the shuttle drivers: Tracie, Harold, John H, Jim, Gail, Jocelyn and Karen, who all stepped up to the plate to make the trips go smoothly. Norm was also available with the trailer, and he took the trash on Thursday, while we took it on Friday - back to the dumpster at the Boardman River Nature Center. The river is in great shape now, and I want to thank everyone who helped out. Mother Nature thanks you too.
Report by Lois, photos by John H and Jocelyn