June 2, 2012 - 8th Annual Boardman River Clean Sweep Event
The weather on Saturday, June 2, 2012 was lousy to say the very least. Rain, wind, cold and very high water.
2 of the 6 sections were impassable due to very high water and low bridges. The river was running at 300CFS and rising. Normal flow is less than 200CFS.
4 sections were completed. The other two were completed on the following Thursday and Friday by Lois, John H. and a very dedicated troop of BRCS / TAPC people. THANK YOU! Lois and John. Your idea to do the makeup trips later in the week was a good one. You followed through by offering to lead the trips and the response from our TAPC club members and a few non-members was amazing.
Read this REPORT to see how Lois, John and their crews did later in the week.
The amount of trash collected during the river segments of the BRCS was minimal, which is a very good sign. Most of the trash came from the downtown section and the recently lowered Brown Bridge Pond, showing us that our efforts upstream on the river are having a major effect on the cleanliness of the main portion of the river.
Most of the trash seemed to be there due to accidental deposits and very high winds and high water.
The people who use the upstream sections of the river seem to be taking better care to not let their stuff get in the river.
Downtown, we are not having as good a response from the public. We had a walking group led by Julie Fernandez and Larry Kidd. Several people showed up with their kids and they worked hard to take a lot of trash off the banks of the river.
Steve Somers led the downtown paddling group. They included USCG people, BRCS people and TAPC people. The RIVER Livery people were also there. They started at Hannah Park due to rain and wind and worked upstream and downstream to clean the river. Steve always does a great job. These groups found more trash than all the rest of us combined.
It was expected that newly exposed bottom lands at the Brown Bridge Pond would be filled with old, lost and discarded trash and we were not disappointed. The crew had problems getting in and out of the pond due to the silt build up around the shore and the trash was removed from the landing before they got back to get a photograph but it was considerable according to the group leader, Jim Heffner.
The KHS students and leaders did their usual fantastic job of being where they were needed and pitching in to do a lot of the hard and dirty work.
The downtown crews got a fair amount of trash from the river and the walking troops got even more.
The graciously donated American Waste dumpster was left at the GT Conservation District for the entire week, so we were able to use it to deposit all the trash even though the sections were done over three separate days.
The picnic was terrific! Pat and Steve and their friends did a great job. The chicken was great.
I want to thank all the volunteers who worked on the projects - the KHS - ODAC for their enthusiasm, people and equipment, the GT Conservation District for it's help and the use of the Nature Center's Oleson Pavilion, the Great Lakes Commission for the grant that made this possible, the ACA and Darden Foundations for their grants that allowed the BRCS to buy three canoes and a trailer for our USCG volunteers to use and Jay's Sporting Goods, Crystal Mountain, Mitchell Paddle Co, and all the sponsors of the raffle that helped raise funds for the BRCS, GTCD and the KHS - ODAC for their respective organizational operating expenses.
It rained and the wind blew and the river was high but we all worked and planned together to get this project done for our beautiful Boardman River.
Thanks to everyone for being there for our Boardman
Look on the BRCS website to see pictures that are being edited now but will be available soon.
Norm Fred