July 23, 2014 - Boardman River Flood Debris Removal Project
A BOARDMAN RIVER CLEAN SWEEP EVENT
This took way longer than last time!
You would think that after last year's work to do this exact same type of project,
we would be pretty good at it and get it done quickly.
Not so much this time. The weather, high water, scheduling problems, legal
complications, and just plain bad luck hindered the project from the first day.
It had taken us 12 days to finish the Brownbridge to Shumsky section where
we took 15 docks out of the river.
Today we finished the Shumsky to Beitner section in 3.5 hours with a stop for lunch
and we took 10 pieces out.
AMAZING!!!!!!
The difference was Steve Largent and his GTCD crew with their chainsaws
and tall manly interns to do the heavy lifting and wading.
We were the pack mules.
We carried what they handed us in our canoes to the drop off locations.
At Beitner, we headed across the street over to the Rapids to take the
last piece of junk out of the Rapids.
As always it seems, we saved the worst for last.
This was a huge set of steps made of Trex which is extremely heavy and
which does NOT float. How it got so far from home is a mystery.
We took it out before it took out one of us.
In all we took out 25 docks, steps, decks, plywood and construction lumber.
8 docks, were left at people's homes where they wanted them back.
The rest was taken in a tightly packed 9 yard trailer to American Waste for disposal.
Our thanks go out to the following:
The Great Lakes Commission for providing major funding
for this project.
American Waste for providing reduced rates for the disposal.
Grand Traverse Conservation District and their staff for providing
experienced volunteers, boats, equipment, vehicles and trailers.
The Traverse Area Paddle Club for providing experienced paddlers to man
the canoes and kayaks. Your help was amazing.
Adams Chapter Trout Unlimited for funding, providing volunteers and support.
The Boardman River Clean Sweep organization for providing planning
GPS, radios, safety equipment and logistical support.
Bethlehem Lutheran Church Endowment Fund for funding and providing volunteers
for the NCF event.
ACA/LL Bean CFG grant program for continued funding for equipment and supplies.
The USCG Air Station Traverse City for providing volunteers for the
downtown NCF event on July 11. 2014.
Parks and Rec Dept of Traverse City for trash disposal services during the NCF.
The many homeowners along the river that opened their properties to us for
access to the debris we had left there. Also, many took the docks to reuse
which saved us having to dispose of them and kept them out of landfills.
With your help, the Boardman River is back to its pristine condition
and we PRAY that it will stay this way for LONG time.
Now back to picking up bottles and cans.
There are 266 pictures and they are ALL in this photo gallery.
Take as many as you want from here now because next week I will reduce
the number of pictures to less than 40.
PS. After this was written, we discovered two more docks in the river which will come out soon.
Submitted by Norm Fred