River Notes

Big Muddy Clean Sweep Sponsors & Partners

2011-11-29T12:52:00.001-06:00

THANK YOU!!!!

From donating water for the crew to pushing barges upstream, from $20,000 donations to a pot of chili - the Big Muddy Clean Sweep was made possible by many large and small donations. Here's a list of our sponsors & partners:

Golden Mile Sponsors

donating 10,000 or more to the Big Muddy Clean Sweep
Boeing
St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District
Pat Jones
Missouri American Water
Mo. Dept. of Conservation
Mo. Dept. of Natural Resources
3M (Columbia Plant)

Barge Services Sponsors

Hermann Sand & Gravel
Humboldt Boat Service
Jefferson City River Terminal
Living Lands & Waters
Gateway Dredging
US. Army Corps of Engineers

$5,000 to 9,999

Burns & McDonnell
Cargill (Kansas City Plant)
Great Rivers Greenway District
Kansas City Water Services
Mid-Missouri Solid Waste Management District
Rivermiles
US Fish & Wildlife Service (Ecological Services)

$2,000 to 4,999

$500 to 1,999

Clean Sweep Trash Tally!!!

2011-11-10T13:08:00.000-06:00

an estimated 60.8 tons of trash!

Our Big Muddy Clean Sweep was a cross-state clean-up of the Missouri River. We started with a land-based clean-up in Kansas City, followed by a series of river clean-ups near Cooper's Landing. In Jefferson City, we hopped on a barge and started collecting trash in clean-ups all the way to the Confluence of Missouri & Mississippi Rivers. Here's the trash tally from the whole trip:

1,201 bags of trash

493 tires

15 tons of scrap metal

95 chunks of styrofoam
2 tire rims
6 ginormous metal tanks
25 - 25 lb Propane Tanks
3 Freon Tanks

14 Refrigerators

7 Chest Freezers
2 washing machines
1 drier
6 Refrigerator doors
1 inside of a refrigerator
1 refrigerator compressor
1 mini fridge
1 crisper drawer
1 microwave
11 Coolers
1 dishwasher
1 AC unit
3 Car Fenders

21.5 55-gal. Metal Drums

26.5 55-gal. Plastic Barrels
42 5-gallon Buckets

1 30-gallon metal barrel
3 Boxsprings
3 mattresses
1 bed frame
1 foam mat
1 pillow
2 blankets
1 Cot
26 Chairs
7 Buoys
2 buoy foam pieces
2 hot water heaters
1 Double Cast Iron Sink
2 Fire Extinquishers
3 Sheets of Roofing Tin
1 Sponge Bob Bobber

3 duck decoys

1/2 of a Duck Boat
1 duck decoy butt
1 Goose Head Decoy
5 Fishing Poles
3 Deck Umbrellas
1 Concrete Nose
1 small Cooler filled with Oyster Mushrooms
6 Couch Cushions
1 Can of Sudden Tan
3 full cans of beer
1 plastic Horse with the legs chewed off
1 stove grill
2 buckets/jugs of oil
2 plastic pipes - 40'
1 plastic tray with plants
1 Bowling Pin
A gazillion balls, toy bowling ball, basketballs, tennis balls, baseballs, soccer balls…

Plastic Toys:

purple plastic turtle
1 toy baby bottle
1 squashed yellow rubber ducky
1 little mermaid
1 green pair of heart sunglasses

2 toy gas pumps
1 big foot truck

1 little tykes plastic slide
1 little tykes house
1 pair of vampire teeth
1 foam airplane
1 plastic French fries
3 hard hats

1 motorcycle helmet

1 shopping cart
plastic crating
80 yards of orange pvc water pipe
1 picnic table
2 - 10 gallon tubs
7 – 30 to 50 gallon garbage cans
12 rail road spikes
63 metal posts
9 pieces of rebar
26 feet of iron pipe
1 disc brake
3 gas cans
1 wire grate
2 motorcycle helmets
1 b&w TV
1 tv vacuum tube
2 baseball bats
1 dishwasher shelf
2 plastic swimming pools
1 radiator
1 "do not dig" sign
4-wheeler fender
8 good planks of lumber

2 blue catfish attached to a free floating jug

6 pieces of lumber with nails
1 cow skull
51 pieces of braided cable
2x5 foot piece of corrugated plastic truck liner
25 feet of erosion control honey comb plastic
1 mop bucket
3 foot round plastic oil tub
3 herbicide/pesticide sprayers (one with chemicals)
4 paint cans

5 messages in a bottle

1 plastic scooby ketchup bottle
1 palm tree mylar balloon
1 coon trap
1 40-gallon metal drum
3 plastic mineral feeding tubs
1 boat seat
1 awning
10 plastic bins
1 window frame
1 antifreeze container
1 20-gallon metal barrel
1 hard hat
2 tents
1 sleeping pad
5 Tarps
1 rubber car bumper
1 large plastic piece from a boat
1 - 5" corregated plastic tube - 5'
1 - 3' piece of cooregated tube - 2'
2 orange traffic barrels
1 squirrel cage fan
1 large corregated matal bin used for holding rail road ties

1 potato planter

2 steel grates 2x4'
1 patio umbrella base
5 plastic pipes
Car Parts:
1 ford muffler
2 car batteries
1 real suspension
1 car door
1 hub cap
1 exhaust pipe
1 car hood
1 brake rotor
1 car door window frame
1 metal wheel
4 car seats
1 metal can of car wax
8 gas tanks (1 1962 Chevy gas tank)
1 metal axel
20 pieces of a trailer
5 pieces of vinyl siding
1 top to a tool box
1 piece of sheet metal
1 gas heater
1 artificial Christmas tree
1 wiffle ball bat
1 baby bath
1 15-ft long cattle gate
1 really big anchor

1 antique sewing machine

5 fishing weights
1 metal cabinet

1 riding lawn mower

1 riding lawn mower hood
1 push mower
1 lawn seeder
2 plastic lids
1 speaker cabinet
1 boat-load of wet, nasty carpet (36 pieces)
1 25-foot long piece of rebar
½ of a 30-gallon plastic barrel
1 tarp

4 bicycles

2 bike inner tubes
1 exercise machine
2 tricycles
2 cooler lids
1 chimney
1 metal cabinet
1 “no trespassing” sign
1 wood burning stove
1 piece of landscaping fabric
1 pink button
1 milk crate
1 plastic ladder
6 cardboard boxes
1 plastic gate
1 vinyl umbrella cover

1 airplane sponson

1 metal grate
1 starter
1 tool box
2 pieces of linoleum flooring
1 plastic patio table top
1 set of boat bunks
12 ft of PVC tubing
1 garage door brack
1 cheater bar (world’s largerst)
1 garage door brack
1 metal tool box
1 sandbag
1 serving tray
1 bullet ridden sign
1 oven door
10 drain pipes
1 mobile home roof
1 circular saw
2 electrical boxes
1 floor fan
2 AC units
1 computer desk
1 15-ft swimming pool
1 tub liner
1 bathroom sink
1 unopened can of mini ravioli
1 wheel to a wheel chair
1 kids Firefighter's Helmet
1 Wicker Table
1 Bean Bag
1 BBQ Grill
1 big plastic Culvert (8ft long)
1 Pet Carrier
1 Mylar Balloon
1 Hockey Puck
1 Nerf Laser Tag Vest
1 Plastic Egg
1 Foam Fortune Cookie
1 McDonald Ball Pit Ball
1 Playdo Hair Thing
1 Rusty Spray Can
2 Old Glass Jugs
1 Glass Bottle with Glass Stopper
1 Toilet Tank Bulb
1 Fuzzy Toilet Seat

1 frisbee

1 Bottle of Personal Lubricant
1 Dog Skull w/ Collar
1 Plastic Dog
Handful of Turkey Feathers
A String of Christmas Lights
A Flower growing out of a piece of Styrofoam
1 Naturally Feminine Powder Spray
1 plastic Hair Curler
1 Avon Crème Lotion
1 Pacifier
1 Eldon Mustangs Water Bottle
1 Machete Blade
4 Milk Crates
1 Metal Grill
1 Hammer
12 Headlights
1 plastic milk crate
1 8 ft. "saddle" gass tank (800 lbs)
2 boat seats
1 "Caution Wet Floor" sign
1 toilet
2 fan cages
1 water softner tank
1/2 a car bumper
14 rusty hunks o' metal
2 bails of wire
1 concrete anchor
5 pieces of rebar
1 sign post rod with concrete

1 plastic Swampthing

8 pieces of braided cable
1 buoy anchor
1 aluminum baseball bat
1 tent shredded to pieces
1 "Dawg Haus Restaurant" sign
1 clay pot
1 life vest
2 plastic swimming pools
1 green plastic helmet
1 "No Trespassing" sign on post
3 fishing poles
1 plastic baseball bat
1 umbrella
1 hair curler
3 pairs of ladies panties
1 door knob with plate lock
1 rubber duck soap dish
1 Disney rubber ball with Tinkerbell
1 Incredible Hulk action figure
1 snapping turtle shell
1 soccer ball, 2 baseballs, 2 footballs
1 Lacross ball, basketball, bocci ball
1 headlight, light bulb & taillight
2 bottles of Blue Magic cleaner
2 syringes in a plastic bottle
1 green buoy
1 dust pan
1 pink toy air craft carrier
1 minnie mouse ball
1 toy cup
1 sandbox bucket, 1 sand shovel

1 leopard print high heel shoe

1 magnifier w/out glass
1/2 of a hula hoop
1 cable spool
1 Geoffery Beene purse
1 duck decoy
1 wind chime made out of bud light bottles
1 15' wooden dock
1 fraggle costume
1 airplane sponson (pontoon)
2 plastic tubs
1 orange highway barrel
1 frame for a car speaker
1 plastic sled
1 35-ft chain covered in yellow plastic
1 12-ft iron post
3 plastic tubes
3 chunks of hard plastic
1 "Mile 11" mile marker sign
1 plastic pesticide jug
1 plastic bumper
7 hunks of scrap metal
1 set of legs to a bbq grill
2 metal grills

1 plastic jack-o-lantern

Washington & St. Charles Clean Sweep Results

2011-10-27T10:59:00.002-06:00

After a packed but incredible week of education and outreach in Washington, MO, we ramped up our energy into working a river clean-up on Saturday side-by-side the Washington River Festival put on for the last 3 years by our favorite river ambassadors, Gloria Attoun-Bauermeister and Mike Smith. These two friends have really been working on growing a community of river lovers in Washington, an awareness for this powerful resource, as it should be, the river is the heart of this lovely little riverfront town.

Many of the children that had come out to the riverside education experience earier in the week came back with their families just itching to get out on the river and help us clean it up! The turnout was fantastic! 76 volunteers in addition to 8 people from Kohl's department store + 26 from the River Relief crew teamed up to clean the river!

Plus, Gloria put together an amazing River Festival, with educational booths, fun activities for families, trash to art in action and REALLY GREAT MUSIC!

Here's the Washington tally!

110 clean-up volunteers went out on the river to clean up 9 miles with 3 River Relief boats signing up in shifts at the river festival. 133 bags of trash were collected from the river banks alongside 44 tires, 7 hunks o' styrofoam, 3 refrigerators, 1 microwave, 1 push mower, 1 black & white TV, pesticide sprayers, duck decoys, metal drums... the list goes on & on!

Check out the full set of Washington photos on our Flickr page!

A big muddy thanks to all of the super nice folks in Washington that made our stay a warm one. There are many, but a few outstanding ones that come to mind are Cheryl Heggemann at Manwell's coffee, the Washington boat club, the police & fire departments, the schools and teachers that participated, the Labadie Chef & crew, Mayor Lucy & Gary Lucy, trash-to-art artists Joey Los & Gale, and of course all of the hard working volunteers, Gloria Bauermeister & Mike Smith!

With warmed hearts & full bellies, we rolled on down to St. Charles... and moored at the Gateway Dredging Co. in Bridgeton. I enjoyed taking our barge dog Sombra on walks along the beautiful little riverside trail in the Riverwoods Conservation Area, where I had the pleasure of seeing some really cool old growth willow, cottonwoods, and mulberry trees!
Unfortunately, there was a beaver at work on some of those massive trees.

We really got down & dirty in St. Charles, starting with a crew clean-up on Friday that netted 3 boatloads of junk to include a potato planter farm implement, a john boat and a porta potty!

On Saturday, we took out 75 volunteers in two shifts and continued collecting massive piles of trash that had been washed in along the shores, also cleaning out old dump sites we found along the way. 27 employees from Boeing helped make a huge dent in our Clean Sweep efforts in St. Charles and a nice reporter from the St. Louis Today website came out to help document our work.

On Sunday the River Relief barge team hauled trash from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. collecting 149 bags of trash, 87 tires, 79 hunks of metal, barrels, car parts... even a riding lawn mower! My back still hurts! But the trash barge is finally starting to fill up.

Check out the full set of St. Charles photos on our Flickr page!

We wrapped things up in St. Charles on Tuesday and headed for the Confluence to complete our final week of the Big Muddy Clean Sweep. The barge is moored just across from the boat ramp at Columbia Bottoms. Join us for our final big clean-up this Saturday and help us fill the trash barge and finish this unique event as part of Missouri River Relief's 10th anniversary project. We'll be posting final results and the full trash tally soon! Thanks for jumping on board and being a part of this wonderful adventure! See you on the River~

Downstream to Washington!

2011-10-13T00:16:00.000-06:00

Big Muddy Clean Sweep
Rennick Riverfront Park, Washington, MO
Rivermile 68
October 10-12, 2011

Washington sunrise. photo by Melanie Cheney

One of our favorite river towns is also a place that uses the river the most. The busy Washington boat ramp has a brutal current, and is difficult for motorboaters and paddlers alike to launch and land. Yet it sees more traffic than any other Missouri River access in the state.

But the reason we love it here is the people. We have been so lucky to become friends of wonderful batch of folks here that have made it part of their mission in life to welcome River Relief to town, and to pave the way for our easy travel there.

Gloria Bauermeister decided to become our Washington ambassador for the Clean Sweep. She worked up a diverse series of events in town, bringing a huge slice of Washington down to the river to become part of this journey. It all started off with a wonderful welcoming party at MannWell’s coffeehouse…always my first stop when I come by Washington by boat. Cheryl, the owner, baked up a blackberry cobbler with berries she saved in the freezer from the summer, and a whole bunch of people filled a table with wonderful appetizers.

The Washington mayor, Sandy Lucy, read off a proclamation declaring this to be “Missouri River Week” in the town and welcomed our trash barge crew. It was a humbling experience for sure. On display at MannWell’s is an intricate quilt, formed of squares patched together by a long list of fiber artists from across the state called the Rambling River Quilters. Each created a window into a vibrant river world, all designed to stitch together perfectly into a wild flowing river that spilled across the coffeehouse wall.

Then we headed back to the barge mooring, and lit up a sweet little campfire in the sandpiles of an old sand plant. Mike Smith brought a truckload of firewood and Gloria and her husband Michael whipped out some sweet tunes on guitar, mandolin and banjo. So perfect as the full moon popped in and out of the gathering clouds.

Wednesday started our series of education events with local students. Most were able to walk down from Immanuel Lutheran and Fifth St. Elementary. We had one booth about the changes of the river in the past couple hundred years and one about our work as river trash cleaners. Colby Wrasse and Brian from the Columbia Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office set up shop in the parking lot with a tank of live wild fish caught the day before describing the conservation challenges that faced each species.

Tim Nigh and Jodi Pfefferkorn explain the ins & outs of trash getting. photo by Melanie Cheney


Colby Wrasse (USFWS) shows students a shovelnose sturgeon. photo by Melanie Cheney

Lunch was followed by a presentation by the World Bird Sanctuary, featuring a smattering of native birds of prey…kestrel, red-tailed hawk, barn own and turkey vulture. The kids sat on straw bales as the trained birds flew above their heads, tapping their shoulders as they zoomed by. They loved it.

As our afternoon shift of presentations ended, our attention shifted to the Missouri River 340. Several of our crew were out there, with near sleepless nights camping on the banks and tending to the courageous racers. (To follow the race, check out the race forum: http://rivermiles.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1318251963/all-0 )

We filled a couple checkpoint holes (and witnessed a gorgeous golden rainbow sunset) before getting back to the barge. Jodi’s mom and sis, and Colby Wrasse stopped by for dinner on the barge (whoa! Baked salmon with herbed white sauce…thanks Tim Nigh!)

Rain started to fall as we headed indoors, warm and dry, thinking of our buddies and all the paddlers out there on the river and hoping they are all keeping safe and loving their river time.

Food Angels and tasty donations

2011-10-11T12:29:00.003-06:00

Here at River Relief, we know that the key to happy, healthy volunteers is good food. At most of our cleanups we designate a "Food Angel" to make sure there are good, fresh-cooked meals for our crew volunteers.

On the Big Muddy Clean Sweep, Tim Nigh is our head Food Angel, shopping, planning meals and cooking 'em up for us. There's nothing like coming back from a trash wrangle at 6 p.m. and knowing you're about to eat great food. Thank you so much Tim!! Liz Doubet was our Co-Food Angel for many events, adding her touch of love to our meals - and the best carrot-orange-ginger birthday cake ever!

But, along with donations from a bunch of businesses and organizations as well as food gifted by friends, we have a lot of Food Angels to thank. Here's a running list (we'll update as we get a chance)

Food Vendor Donations

Clovers Natural Foods
Patchwork Family Farms - we've been eating the best ham and bacon in the state! Thanks guys!
Schnucks

Kansas City

Michael Richmond - one of our longtime food angels.
North Central Neighbors - cooked lunch for our volunteers!

Cooper's Landing

Dee Kinnard - really helped out with our Banquet - Thanks Dee!
Jay Winkler (the Smokin' Hermit) - smoked our Banquet hog and donated a bunch of really great homemade BBQ sauce
Jack's Gourmet - yummies for our banquet
Broadway Brewery - a full keg of their tasty microbrew - it was Summer Ale and was fantastic!
Melanie Cheney, Liz Doubet, Gale Lauber Johnson, Racin' Dave and the rest of our great Banquet committee - thanks ladies (and dude)!

Jefferson City

Soda Popp - fried up some of his tasty fresh catfish and potatoes.
Wears Creek "Creek Squad" - they took care of our great volunteer lunches.

Hermann

Theresa Black and Debbie Bruno from Hermann Catering - she and her crew donated a complete dinner for the barge crew after the cleanup. So sweet!

Washington

Alan Rost - Catfisherman came to the barge with his frier and a bunch of fresh fish. Great way to start off our stay in lovely Washington! He also left us with a huge bag of great sausages we are still eating.
Cody, the Labadie Chef - she's catering our Fundraiser Barge Dinner. What a creative and skillful event planner!
MannWell's Coffee Alley - Cheryl and the crew hosted our Welcome Party, and she even baked a pan of blackberry cobbler for us to take to the barge.
Augusta Brewing Company and John G's Bier Deck - Donated beer to our Fundraising Barge Dinner and brought a beer booth to the River Festival.
Blumenhof Winery - donated wine for our Fundraising Dinner.

St. Charles

Jen Branstedder - A River Cleanup barge veteran, she graced us for several days with gourmet Mac & Cheeze and lasagna.

Confluence

Case Baum - tasty baked treats
Andy Bugh - came on board for a week during his paddle from Montana to the Gulf and served as co-food angel! Thanks Andy!
Alicia Pigg - ask for her recipe of chocolate pudding cakey tastiness.
Missouri American Water - brought a great lunch to the barge and invited mayors and water leaders from the metro area.
Big Muddy Adventures - Mike Clark and Betsy Tribble whipped up a cajun pasta delight
The River Gods - gave us a loose jug line with two blue cats on it. Tim Nigh cooked them up for breakfast!

Big Muddy Clean Sweep Log Book Vol. 3 - Hermann Mooring

2011-10-09T11:09:00.000-06:00

diligently recorded by Jodi Pfefferkorn

The third batch of log book entries, in which we tie up right by the Hermann boat ramp, frighten and calm school administrators, avoid Octoberfest crowds and in which Mel has an island named for her. Making a new town our home for the week, we meet everyone we can and answer a lot of questions about the barge. The trash begins to pile up.

Tuesday, October 4 2011
Today was day one of the Hermann/Owensville education & cleanup event. We had an early wake up call at 0630. Tim made eggs, vegetables & toast. He said we should eat vegetables for breakfast because they’re complex carbs and they’ll burn slowly giving us energy for longer. Good thing, too, because we had a long day ahead. We took 60+ high schoolers out in the morning and 60+ middle schoolers in the afternoon. Except for a couple cuts from broken glass, things went off without a hitch. Well…it took Steve 45 minutes to convince the Hermann High School principal that the way we do river cleanup is safe and the students could proceed to go on the river.

Hermann students gather at the boat ramp - photo by Racin' Dave Stevens


Jodi pilots a boat of Owensville students out to their trash site. photo by Steve Schnarr

Some of the students were doing a multi-media project on their cleanup, taking photos, posting to twitter and doing a Skype-feed with other students unable to join.

As we were cleaning up from the event, a couple paddled up to the barge in a canoe saying “I owe someone on this boat 20 bucks!” and waving a 20. Turns out Patrick met the Living Lands & Waters crew on the Mississippi several years ago when he paddled the entire Mississippi. Someone lent him 20 bucks and he never got the chance to pay them back. And here he sees that same towboat on the Missouri! So he wrote down the story and taped it, with the $20, to the refrigerator in the galley.

Now Patrick and Misty were paddling a simple aluminum canoe down the Missouri, all they way from Three Forks, MT. First we saw Dirk, the Australian, in Jeff City and now Patrick & Misty in Hermann. I wonder who we’ll see in Washington? Patrick & Misty couldn’t stay for dinner because they needed to log some more miles before the end of the day. So after a quick tour and brief chat (& a couple sodas) they were on their way.

Patrick and Misty Rose leave the barge on their last leg of their huge journey. photo by Steve Schnarr

Our friends Roger & Barbara Giles are piloting their newly purchased sternwheeler down the Ohio, up the Mississippi and now up the Missouri. Anthony’s been following their progress on Facebook and he saw that they were around New Haven heading upstream in our direction. So we all hopped in a plateboat to intercept them. A few miles downriver (on the infamous Berger Bend) and there she was, moving ever so slowly upriver. (We sure know how that feels.)

We find the Nancy Ann on Berger Bend and escort them upstream at sunset. photo by Racin' Dave Stevens.

We came alongside the Nancy Ann and hopped aboard. Roger was maneuvering the sandbars on Bates Island Bend and didn’t want to pull our boat. So Anthony, Habibi and Jeff took turns at the tiller, keeping our boat alongside the Nancy Ann while the rest of us toured the boat. It was quite a site – with an upper & lower level. The gangplank was at her bow, and raised and lowered via an electronically operated pulley. The pilot house was part of the upper level & to the aft was the texas deck. The lower level had the master bedroom, kitchen, bathroom & living room. Roger, Barbara and their engineer Lee were riding in luxury.

When we got back to the barge, Anthony, Habibi & I took most of the crew’s laundry into town then headed to Sharp’s Corner Tavern for beers & dinner. Tim was already there watching the Cardinal’s game (they lost by one). Jeff, Steve & Racin’ stayed behind to help tie up the Nancy Ann. They joined us later & brought Lee. Donna popped in, seemingly out of nowhere but apparently Tim had kept her informed of our whereabouts.

Those who had brains in their heads and exercised good judgment went back to the barge after dinner. Those who didn’t (Steve, Anthony, Habibi & me) stayed at the bar and played cards with some locals, making it back by midnight (or so).

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Sunrise on the barge deck in Hermann. photo by Steve Schnarr

Today was day two of the education and cleanup events with high schoolers & middle schoolers. Scott Voney from MDC brought the “Disney Boat”. Apparently this is the first time it’s been out this year. There were no injuries today & Steve didn’t have to persuade any principals. The middle school principal was very protective of her students, but by the end of the day, she and her students were climbing on rack piles and digging out all they trash they could find. Those kids were really into it today. Students in both groups that I took out commented that the trash in the river made them mad.

This guy came back with trash fish (silver carp). photo by Steve Schnarr

Habibi’s first group was a little less energetic. His students weren’t really into the cleanup idea and one of the adults on board didn’t like mud or spiders. Good thing Habibi had a better group in the afternoon because he had boat problems. Finding no tools or spare parts in the boat box, he got creative & removed the (beware: girl term ahead) thingy from gas line & manually pumped gas into the line by sticking the hose end directly into the tank.

Racin’ & Anthony stayed on the barge today, installing the trash fence onto the trash barge. Basically, they welded small metal tubes perpendicular to the face of the sand flat coaming, then slid t-posts into the tubes and attached the fence to that. They were able to finish the whole thing in one day – it looks awesome! We were able to put it to good use because we cleared the work flat of trash that had been collected over the past two days.

The river has dropped a few feet since we arrived on Monday, and Racin’ thought it would be in our best interest to move the barge out a little. Habibi put a little slack in the stern line that was attached to the winch. I put slack on the head line. All the while Racin’ was in the pilot house maneuvering the barge. We all used radios and everything went off without a hitch. We sure act like we know what we’re doing!

Racin' moves the barge off the bank. photo by Steve Schnarr

Tonight we had a couple extra crew members and a few guests for dinner. We weren’t going to fit around the dining table in the galley, so Tim served dinner on the work flat. Tables & chairs were set up and we enjoyed a delicious BBQ chicken and roasted potatoes under the soft glow of the lights in the riverfront park (we turned off the generator to cut down on the noise). Our guests included Gary & Marcia Leabman, Dave the River Slave, Donna & Nancy McKenna. For dessert, Tim served up warm strawberry rhubarb pie with frozen custard.

Quote of the Day – (Steve found a message in a bottle)…it reads:
“Hi – My name is M… M…… I am a gay white male looking for someone to spend time & romantic time with. I am looking a male 20-30 years old in good physical condition. For the right man a possibly move into my apartment. (grammatical errors are from the original) Please call, Sincerely, M… M……. (two phone numbers included)”

Thursday, October 6, 2011
Today was a much needed and deserved off day! The crew was allowed to sleep in – some a little longer than others. We all had our own off-day agendas. For some of us this meant going for a bike ride or a walk, eating lunch in town, checking out the shops in Hermann, getting laundry done, working on the computer or attending the train wreck known as the community theater.

Mel arrived today with Gale – Ruthie showed up in time for the community theater outing. Craig made his appearance as well.

Burgers and sweet potato fries for dinner then a chilaxin’ evening.

Friday, October 7, 2011
Today was the scout for Saturday’s clean-ups. We divided and conquered. 4 went down stream and 5 went up. Habibi was the only crew member who didn’t go on the scout because he had to print off maps for us at the Hermann library. He asked the librarian if he could print some river charts from his USB drive on the library computer. The librarian said to him, “Well, I understand ‘computer’.” Abibi drew from all his world travels & lost-in-translation experience to communicate his needs to the librarian. Unfortunately, he needed color maps but could only get black & white.

Steve, Anthony, Ruthie, Racin & Gale (& Gale’s dog, Mr. Foxy) went downstream for the scout. They scored some good sites on Bate’s Island Bend. The water has dropped a few feet since we got here on Monday, so getting to shore to check out these sites was harder than before. Several wing dikes and trail dikeswere either showing or just below the surface…lurking in the muddy waters, waiting to prey on the lower units of the boat motors.

Tim & Mel did the driving for our scout team, which included Craig & myself. We scouted several sites on the Missouri & Gasconade. Many of our sites didn’t have enough trash to send a group to, so we just cleaned them ourselves. We also scored a perfectly good picnic table stuck in a driftwood pile. When we came back from the scout our boat looked more like a trash haul than a scout.

Our trash scout turned into a trash & treasure haul. photo by Melanie Cheney

By early afternoon, the weekend crew was starting to arrive. Liz was waiting for us when we returned from the scout. Rod & Nanci had arrived while we were scouting, so they hit the town while waiting. John Brady, Bernie & Brian all arrived in the early afternoon & Mel’s mom Lucie came.

Everyone did their own thing in the afternoon Som e folks ran errands, others visited a winery & one group went thrift shore shopping. Steve set up a little office under the pavilion in the park so he could get internet reception.

For dinner, Tim & Liz cooked up schnitzel and German-style potato salad. Tim had never made schnitzel, and decided to stick the pork loins in a ziplock bag, lay it on the barge deck and pound it with a 2 pound mallet. Half he grilled and half he fried. They were all great.


Racin' Dave took this one from the dome of the Gasconade County Courthouse. photo by Racin' Dave Stevens.

Saturday, October 8, 2011
We had an early start because of the cleanups today. So Tim & Liz made breakfast sandwiches. That way we could eat quickly & cleaning up was simple.

Instead of having one big cleanup, we had the boats ready to go for any groups hanging out at Oktoberfest. Ruthie made a sign inviting people to clean-up the river. We had a few folks come. Some just wanted a boat ride, but others actually came to clean up. A few people that came were folks that had stopped by throughout the week to see what was up with the barge. We’d tell them about the clean-up today & they actually came!

Others were families whose kids had gone to the clean-up with their school earlier that week. The assistant superintendant of one of the Hermann schools brought his family. A bunch of folks from Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources & Science (MANNRS) from Lincoln University came for the morning. They went with Racin’ Dave and Gale and took on the huge Bate’s Island Bend site. They completely filled the boat with trash and loved it.

There were a couple of boatloads of just MRR crew members who went out to clean up. All in all, I think we pulled three refrigerators from the banks. And if you ever want to spend 45 minutes pulling a refrigerator through the river, then find yourself waist deep in the river, heaving the refrigerator into the boat…then go on a trash haul with Jim Karpowicz, Jeff Barrow & Rod Power. Those boys were coming up with ideas that included ropes over trees, carabineers, usning the bow of the boat to “stand” the frig up. After we all stood on the log rack and heaved the frig into the river (we missed the boat), the guys looked at each other and exchanged compliments that said “yeah, we meant to do that”. Well, 45 minutes later, the frig was in the boat and Karp & I were soaking wet.

We did most of the trash haul today. We had planned on doing it tomorrow, but we figured whatever we could haul today would be helpful.

Karp & Liz load a truck tire. photo by Melanie Cheney

Moving the trash from the work flat up into the trash barge. photo by Alicia Pigg.

Dragging to the pile. photo by Alicia Pigg.

Dinner was catered by Hermann Catering as a donation to the crew. Theresa Black, the caterer, told Jeff that her son worked on the river but had died in a work-related accident. She wanted to serve us because she felt like she was giving something back.

The ladies from Hermann Catering donated dinner to us...after they had already catered a 150 person barge tour on the Hermann Sand barge

We had taken the chain at the head of the barge down to help Theresa get the food onto the barge. Well, we forgot to put the chain back up and while we were eating, two different people wandered onto the barge (from Octoberfest) and wanted to “party” with us. Steve was the diplomat that handled both of these situations. One of our surprise visitors was a biologist that had been a boat operator at our cleanups before and was hanging out with friends at Octoberfest.

Dinner was chicken alfredo and apple crisp. Half the crew went for an after dinner moonlight cruise. They called the rest of us and said they landed on an island (“Mel’s Island”, because she took a nap there earlier in the week) and had a campfire lit so we joined them. That’s where we had our pass-the-feather circle. Not a bad ending to a busy but fun-filled week.

Oh yeah…a bunch of us got to take showers today!

Sunday, October 9, 2011
We had a late pancake breakfast today. After a brief meeting about the 340 (which would be starting on Tuesday in Kansas City) we divided & conquered on the rest of the trash haul. It turned out that we had girls against boys. Steve, Habibi, Tim, Jeff & Bernie were in one boat with Mel, her mom Lucie, Gale, Donna & I were in the other group. I’m not sure how much trash was actually hauled by each group, but the girls brought in the biggest piece of trash. It was a huge barrel that was completely smashed in on one side. Let’s just say…it took 7 guys to unload it…but only 4 women to load it!

The all girl trash haul with the big crushed tank. Donna, Gale, Jodi & Lucie. photo by Melanie Cheney

photo by Alicia Pigg.

After the trash haul, Anthony & Racin’ washed off all the decks. Mel, Steve & John Brady shuttled all the vehicles to Washington. When they came back, they had Captain Mike with them!

Tim made burritos for dinner. We ate on the work deck one last time before the cold sets in. Movin’ out tomorrow!


The River Cleanup leaves Hermann. Photo by Alicia Pigg.

Hermann Clean Sweep Oct. 4th-10th

2011-10-05T20:11:00.000-06:00

Missouri River Relief kicked off the Hermann Clean Sweep with 2 days of awesome education events with the Hermann area schools. Being able to take kids out on the river to actually clean up trash is where it's at! 133 students from St. George Catholic, Hermann Middle School, Owensville Dutchman High School, and Owensville Middle School came out over 2 days to help us clean up the Big Muddy!

One of them even caught an Asian Carp!

Hermann Clean Sweep in the news:

Gasconade County Republican - Oct. 12, 2011 - "MoRR Learning Festival draws praise from area administrators"
Washington Mo. News + Video - Oct. 5, 2011- "Big Muddy Clean Sweep will bring Educational Activities, River Clean-up to Washington next week"
Gasconade County Republican - Oct. 5, 2011 - "Good, clean, trashy fun with Missouri River Relief"
CountyNewsLive.com (Hermann) - Oct. 4, 2011 -"Gasconade County students volunteer to clean Mo. River banks and learn more about river ecosystem"

On Friday, as is typical before a big clean-up on the river, our barge team went out and scouted the river for trashy areas, marking sites with our big blue Stream Team bags, and then set up a booth at the boat ramp on Saturday morning to take people out on the river despite Octoberfest activities going on in down town Hermann.

Lucky for us, a few locals & families showed up at 9 a.m. as well as the Arnold boys (aka the Mighty Stream Team 211 from St. Louis) to help the River Relief crew clean-up. By 10 a.m., seven Lincoln University students in the MANNRS organization (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences) came out to clean up as well!

In all, 26 people signed up in addition to 20 of Missouri River Relief's "hard core crew" to clean up 14 miles of river!

Here is the trash tally from the Hermann Clean Sweep:

166 bags of trash

80 yards of orange pvc water pipe

18.5 tires

12 - 55 gallon plastic barrels

3 tire inner tubes

3 propane tanks

2 refrigerators

2 freezers

2 ginormous tanks = to 300 gallons

1 picnic table

1 cable buoy

1 trash can

2 - 10 gallon tubs

1 - 10 lb propane tank

6 chairs

3 fence poles

4 heavy chunks of metal

1 panel of corrugated metal

2 - 30 gallon garbage cans

2 rail road spikes

51 metal posts

9 pieces of rebar

26 feet of iron pipe

7 pieces of cable wire

1 disc brake

1 metal gas can

1 wire grate

1 motorcycle helmet

7 - 5 gallon plastic buckets

4 propane tanks

2 coolers

1 hot water heater

1 tv vacuum tube

1 baseball hat

1 dishwasher shelf

1 plastic swimming pool

1 refrigerator door

1 radiator

1 "do not dig" sign

4-wheeler fender

8 good planks of lumber

2 buoys

1 cow skull

1 huge undergound gas tank (girl team score)

2 hunks o' styrofoam

10 pieces of braided cable

2x5 foot piece of corrugated plastic truck liner

25 feet of erosion control honey comb plastic

1 mop bucket

3 foot round plastic oil tub

1 pesticide sprayer

1 3-gallon paint can

1 message in a blottle

1 plastic scooby ketchup bottle

1 palm tree mylar balloon

1 metal can of car wax

Week 2 of the Big Muddy Clean Sweep!

2011-10-05T09:37:00.000-06:00

Jeff City Results, Race to the Dome and More~!

Week two of the Big Muddy Clean Sweep began with river trips with long time partners and sponsors Missouri Department of Conservation Stream Team staff and Missouri Department of Natural Resource employees to provide a unique place for discussion on the future of resource conservation while experiencing a pretty amazing natural resource in itself. What better place to meet than on the Big Muddy which flows directly beneath the state capital and many of their offices?

Meanwhile, the Big Muddy Clean Sweep barge crew continued to make arrangements for the "River Clean-up" barge to move upriver. Finally, after a number of mishaps and missed opportunities, Hermann Sand & Gravel gave our barge a ride up to Hermann, and then to Jeff City with help from the guys at Capital Sand Co. & the Jeff City River Terminal. The barge had finally arrived~!

As things changed minute to minute, and day to day, we hastily made preparations to "move in" and ready the barge. Big Muddy thanks to the barge team Jeff Barrow, Steve Schnarr, Racin' Dave Stevens, Jodi Pfefferkorn, Daniel Belshe and Anthony Pettit for getting things in order so we could quickly transition into our big clean-up event, the Jefferson City Missouri River Clean-up!

On Friday we began to set-up camp for our crew, organize gear for the clean-up and began scouting the river for clean-up sites to ferry the volunteers to. Our good friend Soda Popp (yes that's his real name!) rolled into Noren Access as other River Relief crew arrived to fry us up some local caught fish, potatoes and bean stew while we attempted to recover and refuel from the massive effort it had taken to get to that point!

Thankfully the river had been kind to us all week, and blessed us with beautiful Fall weather in all its glory~! In addition, the Noren Access (aka Wilson's Serenity Point) was looking better than ever thanks to one big hearted river rat, Joe Wilson. Joe cares so much about providing a beautiful experience on the river, he even had a guy come out there to make the sandy beach smooth as silk.

Saturday morning over 140 volunteers gathered to clean-up the Missouri River in Jefferson City and christen our new trash barge with its first load on river trash on its 170 mile journey. We had an amazing turnout. An additional 25 volunteers worked a satellite site from the Mokane Access with Stream Team partner Mark Van Patten and Big Muddy Refuge partner Tim Haller. The volunteers trickled in slowly, but we filled all 13 boats and sent them all out on the river! Check out our website for the official results! You can also acces all of our cool photos from the clean-up on our Flickr page!

A Big Muddy Thanks to Eldon Highschool teacher Jen Wellman for bringing a bus load of courteous high school students in the middle of home-coming weekend. They were great kids and awesome workers! One of the girls ended up finding the "Best Darned Find of the Day" for the Trash Contest, a plastic toy "Swamp Thing"!

Trash Tally!

68 Blue Stream Team (ST) bags of Trash

25 Tires (one ginormous tractor tire on the rim)

5 Chunks of Styrofoam

1 Refrigerator

2 Coolers

9 5-gallon Plastic Buckets

2 55-gallon Plastic Barrels

2 Propane Tanks

1 Boxspring

8 Chairs

1 Wicker Table

1 Bean Bag

1 BBQ Grill

30 ft of Metal Cable

Several pieces of Scrap Metal

1 boat-load of wet, nasty carpet (30 pieces)

1 big plastic Culvert (8ft long)

4 Tarps

1 Pet Carrier

1 Large Buoy

2 Toys

Trash Contest Finds!

1 Plastic Swamp Thing toy

1 Mylar Balloon

1 Hockey Puck

1 Nerf Laser Tag Vest

1 Plastic Egg

1 Foam Fortune Cookie

1 McDonald Ball Pit Ball

1 Plastic Hose Guy Toy

1 Playdo Hair Thing

1 Metal Chair

1 Rusty Spray Can

2 Old Glass Jugs

1 Glass Bottle with Glass Stopper

1 Toilet Tank Bulb

1 Fuzzy Toilet Seat

1 Bottle of Personal Lubricant

1 Dog Skull w/ Collar

1 Plastic Dog

Handful of Turkey Feathers

A String of large Christmas Lights

A Flower growing out of a piece of Styrofoam

1 Naturally Feminine Powder Spray

1 plastic Hair Curler

1 Avon Crème Lotion

1 plaid piece of a Shirt

4 Light Bulbs

1 Pacifier

1 Eldon Mustangs Water Bottle

1 Machete Blade

1 Kids Chair

1 Milk Crate

1 Metal Grill

1 Hammer

1 Headlight

1 Seat Cushion

1 Can of Sudden Tan

1 full Can of Milwaukee’s Best
1 plastic Horse with the legs chewed off

Many thanks to the Wears Creek Clean-up folks for providing a wonderful lunch for our simultaneous clean-up, and to Patchwork Family Farms, Clovers & Hyvee for providing inkind food donations for the barge team! And to our long time partners and sponsors, Missouri American Water for bringing us drinking water and water bottles, providing educational talks on how we get our drinking water from the river and filter it, and of course for supporting the clean-up! And to the entire list of Golden Mile Sponsors who stepped up to the plate to support the Big Muddy Clean Sweep. We couldn't have done this without you guys!

We want to also give a shout out to our friends Dave Bandy, Mark Risch and Patty Farrar who showed up with instruments in hand to serenade the volunteers at lunch with some classic river tunes!

On Sunday, we had the pleasure of entertaining even more river enthusiasts! A record 71 boats and 112 paddlers enjoyed getting out on the water for the 2nd Annual Race to the Dome! Despite a foggy delay in the morning, participants in this charity canoe & kayak race helped support Missouri River Relief by enjoying a glorious Fall day on the Big Muddy, as the colors on the trees began to peak.

The love for this amazing river was definitely flowing~~~!

Thanks to organizer Patrick Lynn for making the race so smooth and for supporting Missouri River Relief's efforts out of the kindness of his heart. The official results for Race to the Dome can be found at www.racetothedome.org or check our gorgeous photos we have posted on River Relief's Flickr site of the event. Also, here's a great news article about the race that was published in the Jeff City Tribune from Saturday.

It was an amazing week, and we have many Big Muddy thanks & praises to everyone who pitched in to help make it happen. From the bottom of our Big Muddy hearts, thank you and we'll see you on the river as we continue to roll downstream on this awesome Clean Sweep adventure!

drawing by Alicia Pigg

Big Muddy Clean Sweep Log Book Vol. 2 - Jefferson City Mooring

2011-10-03T20:59:00.000-06:00

diligently recorded by Jodi Pfefferkorn

The second batch entries in the Log, recording our adventures moored in Jefferson City. The barge team continues getting the barges ready for living and working while more crew gathers to get ready for the Jefferson City Clean-up and Race to the Dome on Saturday & Sunday. The Clean Sweep and the barge have finally met up!

Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011

photo from the bridge by Bernie Arnold

Early morning wake up for everyone except for Jeff. He was out like a light until 0900 when Habibi finally woke him.
Steve ate breakfast with his computer in front of him. Things are just that busy. We certainly wouldn’t be here without the tireless efforts of Steve, Mel & Jeff.

While I took a can of WD-40 & a bag of rags into the engine room to try to cut down some of the diesel soot, the guys set about moving our small work flat to the back of the house barge. Then they loaded up the propane tanks & headed into Jeff City to fill them.

Habibi stayed behind to get started on the “Great Sand Removal of 2011” After I emerged from the engine room looking like a chimney sweep, I joined Habibi. We monkeyed around with a water pump for a while before finally settling on a system which resembled shelving coal into a furnace. We worked ourselves silly then took a watermelon break.

Jeff, Anthony & Racin’ got back from their propane run (which was a fiasco in & of itself) at 1600. By this time Habibi & I were very exhausted, dehydrated & sun-stupid from shoveling sand all day. But we all rallied to unload the propane tanks, scarfed down some sub sandwiches which Lee Diekroeger brought for us, then packed into the “Jimmy” to head back to Columbia to load the box truck for Saturday’s cleanup (Anthony stayed behind to take care of things on the barge).

We dropped Racin’ off at his van because he’s off the barge for a few days to take care of some things. Then we were mad schlepping fools.

Back on board the barge by 2045. Anthony grilled brats and rocked a mad kitchen overhaul & reorganization. We came back and helped Jeff with the schedule of events for the next 30 days. Better get some rest now, because there doesn’t seem to be and sleep in the schedule…

Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011

photo by Bernie Arnold

Took DNR employees out for a morning on the river. They were mostly clerical workers & this was a chance for them to get out of the office and get on the river that flows beneath their building.
We took all three plate boats. Steve, Anthony and Habibi all drove boats. I was Habibi’s first mate. The whole outing was organized by Joe Engeln. We drove the boats about 5 miles upstream & tied them together then Joe stood on the bow of his boat and educated his fellow DNR workers about the Missouri River. They seemed to really enjoy it.

Steve & Jeff took management level employees out in the afternoon. This was more of a floating meeting for them, covering topics they might have discussed around a conference table but this time in boats.

Josh Pennington stopped by after lunch. He, Anthony & I motored upriver past Claysville Island to take a tour of the sand dredge moored up there. The dredge wasn’t in operation, so we explored Claysville island where we found a cool zippo lighter and a maglight. Both of them worked! We also accidentally discovered a great trash site for Saturday’s clean-up.

Friday, September 30, 2011
Today was the big “Jeff City Cleanup Prep Day” Jeff got the morning kicked off right with scrambled eggs, bacon & fried potatoes for breakfast. That was the kind of energy we needed to put up the Flying Nun kitchen tent for the crew camp. How many river rats does it take to figure out an angle? I think it’s safe to say none of us retained anything we learned in high school geometry but we got ‘er up and she’s flying proudly. The Flying Nun is made from a semi-trailer tarp stretched over a frame made from scrap metal tubing (a Racin’ Dave design from 2004).

The Flying Nun - photo by Brian Waldrop

Habibi had the great idea to tie a banner with the MRR logo to it. Now people don’t have to ask “Who are you guys?” Instead, they ask “What does Missouri River Relief do?”

Upstream scout - photo by Bernie Arnold

A quick lunch of sandwiches at the boat ramp, then the scout began. Racin’, John Brady and Gale peeled off to set up the propane system for the fridge. Mel, Anthony & Craig scouted downstream & Habibi, Bernie & I went up. An abandoned homeless camp, a few log jams filled with bottles and the occasional tire were what we found. Plenty to keep a bunch of volunteers busy Saturday morning.

By the time we got back, our crew was starting to arrive. Soda Popp fried catfish – the best darn fried fish any of us have had – and so began the evening. A Lengthy pow-wow around the fire for the clean-up and Race to the Dome. Then it was foshee flying time. It turned into an early evening because of the early wake up call for the clean-up.

Before the meeting - photo by Bernie Arnold

Saturday, October 1, 2011 –

Today was the Jeff City Clean-up. We sent out over 140 volunteers and had about 30 crew members on hand.

Veteran river cleaners - photo by Steve Schnarr

We rocked and got a good system for loading trash onto the barge.

Hauling one big honking tire onto the work flat - photo by Melanie Cheney

Back to the river - photo by Brian Waldrop

After the clean-up we were standing on the ramp drinking beers when a kayaker coming off the river asked us if we knew Steve. It turns out he was an Australian who had kayaked from Montana. He stayed for dinner but headed out after that. We asked him to stay the night but he needed to put on a few more miles for the day – he had to catch a flight home in St. Louis in just a few days.

New crew members that we had today were Jason (who operated a boat for MDC- Chillicothe shop), Kris and their awesome little boys, Isaac, Ethan & Avery. Jason works for MDC & was one of their boat drivers. He decided to bring his family along & they had a blast. We hope they come back for more!

Sunday - October 2, 2011
Today was Race to the Dome. Mel trailered one plate boat to the Providence Access and Steve & Joe Englen were the sweep boat for the 26 mile race. Bernie trailered another plate boat to Hartsburg and Habibi & Jeanne were the sweep boat for the 15-mile race. John Brady & I waited for the fog to burn off. Then we took the 150 upriver and met the racers as they were coming down.

Hartsburg start to Race to the Dome - photo by Bernie Arnold

Racin’ & Gale & Anthony stayed on the barge and busted ass with cleaning and organizing. When we returned from safety boating we were blown away by the difference. Then everyone rallied to break down camp and schlep stuff to the barge. Tim Nigh moved in to be our cook and he set to work getting the galley in order.

Fixing the rigging -photo by Steve Schnarr

Habibi arrived in Hermann to pick up Capt. Mike Hanlin. Captain Mike has been the pilot for Living Lands & Waters since they got their first barge (and their tow boat was a Vietnam era push boat with a John Deere tractor cab stuck up on stilts for a wheelhouse. He happily offered to push us downstream for the Big Muddy Clean Sweep. Once a week he would come and move us on downstream to our next location then head home to East Moline, IL.

As soon as he stepped aboard he put us to work moving rigging around so we could move the towboat. It didn’t last long because as soon as Capt. Mike fired up the engines, we discovered that something was jamming up the starboard engine. Capt. Mike mumbled some curse at the Missouri River.

After a bit of standing around, poking around, and a dip in the water by Racin’, we deduced that we needed different tools, but it was too late to go the JCRT yard, so we chowed down on ham and bacon soup that Tim whipped up. It was good eatin’!

After dinner, Habibi, Jeff, Tim and I went to Lee’s to take showers. Did ya’ hear that?...Showers!!! Quote of the day! Jeannie Kuntz referred to the Capital dome as “the ‘space nipple’ where aliens come down and…”

Monday, October 3, 2011
Racin’ made an early morning run to the Jeff City River Terminal to get a pipe wrench & some extension pipes. He used the wrench to try to loosen the shaft of the starboard engine. Whatever was jammed between the prop & hull was jammed pretty good.

At different points in the morning, Habibi, Tim & I found ourselves standing on the pipe wrench extensions. The wrench itself was attached to the shaft of a 600 HP diesel engine. Racin’ was manually revving the engine. This caused whoever was standing on the pipe wrench to bounce up & down while holding onto anything in the engine room to keep from getting bucked off. But hey…it worked! The log popped out & the shaft spun freely.

As the culprit drifted downriver, we all flipped it the bird and bid it fare-fxxxxxg well.

Once the log was free we were able to pull up to the boat ramp and take on water. The Jeff City Fire Dept. brought a truck and crew down and filled our tanks for us! We were under way by 1215 & heading in the right direction (downstream) for the first time this trip.

We pull away from the ramp and head downstream - photo by Joe Wilson

Steve & Habibi trailered a plate boat and peeled away to pick up the trash from the Mokane Clean-up on Saturday. Going downstream is much quicker than going up, and we were able to average 9-10 mph. This meant that any time a plate boat departed or returned the barge had to slow down. Capt. Mike was happy to comply.

Did I mention how cool Captain Mike is? A world class gentleman for sure. He’s a patient rigging instructor & a fun guy to joke around with on the radio.

We were lucky to have the most experienced river cleanup towboat pilot ever - Mike Hanlin

We arrived in Hermann at 1700. Steve & Jeff met us in a plate boat with a reporter and camerawoman from the Washington newspaper. We finished tying off by 1800 & Capt. Mike immediately left. He was itching to start his 4 & a half hour ride home to Illinois.

We pull into a perfect little spot at the Hermann ramp - photo by Steve Schnarr

Tim grilled up some rockin brats he’d bought at a shop in Hermann. Perfect!

Quick Links

Sunrise over Hermann - photo by Bernie Arnold

10th Anniversary River Blessing

2011-10-03T14:47:00.001-06:00

Given by Tim Nigh during River Relief’s 10^th Anniversary Dinner Celebration at Cooper’s Landing, September 21^st, 2011

Good evening friends and fellow river enthusiasts.

Let’s take a moment to pause in reflection and thanks…

O Great Spirit
The Missouri River is a beautiful and powerful force in our lives.

We come to her banks on this lovely evening to renew our connections to you,

Our connections to the Earth, and our connections to each other.

We are grateful for this opportunity to gather with friends,

To share stories and experiences,

and to reflect on a decade of activities on behalf of the Missouri River.

Ten years ago, the Big Muddy was singing the blues,

and we (all of us) decided to do something about the tires, barrels, Refrigerators, buckets, bottles, cans and other trash that littered her banks.

She was a mess.

Tonight, ten years later, after thousands have gotten their feet wet picking up Hundreds of tons of trash, along over 600 miles of her banks...

We believe that the Big Muddy is rejoicing and celebrating with us,
Right here, right now.

We are so proud of what we have done and we are prepared to do more.

O Great Spirit!

Thanks for this meal, thanks for this night and thanks for this river.

Can I get an Amen!? Amen!

Clean Sweep Results through September

2011-09-27T22:50:00.005-06:00

Kansas City River Clean-up - Saturday, Sept. 10th

Berkley Riverfront Park, river mile 365

We kicked off September with our biggest tradition and clean-up of the year, the Kansas City Missouri River Clean-up! Due to flooding and high river levels this year, we based the Kansas City Clean-up out of Berkley Riverfront Park where 20-year Clean-up Veteran and Kansas City Coordinator, Vicki Richmond made arrangements for volunteer groups to disperse to 11 land-based sites up and down the river.

For normally being a river-based operation, the clean-up was still a huge success and made cleaning up post-flood parks even more efficient. 257 volunteers showed up on a gorgeous late summer morning, to pick up their pumpkin orange Clean Sweep t-shirts, and sign up for one of the many pre-scouted land-based sites

Sites included Berkley Park, Riverfront Park, Kaw Point Park, the Chouteau Bridge, the Riverfront Heritage Trail, Stillwell and more! Since there were so many separate sites, we are still working on compiling a tonnage estimate. Right now we are estimating close to 7 tons of debris cleaned up from 11 sites along the river.

Read More about the Kansas City Clean-up on our Webpage

Check out our full set of Photos from this year's Kansas City Clean-up

10th Anniversary Celebration - Wed.,Sept. 21st

Cooper's Landing, river mile 170

To celebrate a decade of accomplishments, and officially kick-off our Big Muddy Clean Sweep season, a crew & partners banquet was held on the banks of the Big Muddy Wednesday night at our home port, Cooper's Landing. Our friends & local singer-songwriters continued their Wed. night tradition of serenading us on the river while River Relief wined & dined our long-time hard working crew with a buffet of smoked pork, homemade coleslaw & apple sauce, and good home brew donated from Broadway Brewery, while watching the sunset over the river on a beautiful late summer day, enjoying boat rides, camaraderie and a program to thank our founding members alongside a special recognition of long time partner and owner of Cooper's Landing, Mike Cooper. After dark, we lit 5 memorial paper lanterns (foshees) for those that were no longer with us. It was absolutely breathtaking and beautiful.

Mid-Mo Group Clean-ups - Sept. 17th - 25th

Cooper's Landing, river miles 167 - 173

This river-based series of cleanups brought an impressive 186 volunteers on the river to remove 50 tires, 1/2 a ton of scrap metal and an estimated 2.6 tons of trash from 7 miles of river!

Partial Trash Tally!
178 bags of Trash
50 Tires
1/2 Ton of Scrap Metal:
100 lb Propane Tank
4 small Propane Tanks
3 Freon Tanks
1 Refrigerator Door
3 Car Fenders
2 55-gal. Metal Drums
1 Red Buoy
1 Double Cast Iron Sink
1 Fire Extinquisher
2 Sheets of Roofing Tin
1 Sponge Bob Bobber
1/2 of a Duck Boat
1 Cot
3 Lawn Chairs
2 Fishing Poles
1 55-gal. Blue Barrel
3 Deck Umbrellas
1 Concrete Nose
1 small Cooler filled with Oyster Mushrooms
1 Goose Head Decoy
1 Bag of Balls
1 Bowling Pin
1 kids Firefighte's Helmet
1 giant Light Bulb

Groups included:

(click on the group name to see photos from each clean-up!)

9/17 - Friends of Big Muddy & Missouri Master Naturalists

9/18 - EcoArtFest volunteers & RR Crew

9/22 - Douglass High School Students

9/23 - Columbia Resource Home School

9/23 - Garden Gate Home School

9/24 - Walmart Stream Team 4364

9/24 - Sustain Mizzou

9/25 - River Relief Crew Trash Haul

Check out this Great Missourian Article that just came out featuring the Friends of Big Muddy & Master Naturalists Clean-up that kicked it all off!

A Big Muddy Thanks to all the sponsors, crew & volunteers that helped make our September Clean Sweep a rockin' one!

Here's to kicking off October in the same light with one of our featured "big" clean-ups in Jefferson City on October 1st as we continue to roll on down the river. Sign up today and find out more details about the Jeff City Missouri River Clean-up on our website here: http://www.riverrelief.org/event/jefferson-city-river-clean-up/. The barge has arrived!!! as of tonight in Jeff City, and we welcome folks to come check us out via Noren Access (or as we like to call it...Wilson's Serenity Point) or climb on up the new pedestrian walkway on the Missouri River bridge!

Following the clean-up on Sunday is the 2nd Annual Race to the Dome! Folks can still sign up for this fun and scenic canoe race via www.racetothedome.org, all proceeds from the race will benefit Missouri River Relief and our efforts to reconnect people to the Missouri River through hands-on river clean-ups, education and stewardship.

Stay tuned to our blog here or like us on our facebook page for the latest updates!

Most of all... hoping we'll "See You on the River~!"

The Big Muddy Clean Sweep Begins!

2011-09-27T14:42:00.005-06:00

"River Relief begins Big Muddy Clean Sweep to remove trash for 170 miles in 8 towns on the Missouri River”

Missouri River Relief is bringing barges upriver to Jefferson City to start a month-long voyage removing tons of trash and debris from the shores of the Missouri River. This endeavor — the Big Muddy Clean Sweep — is the flagship project of River Relief’s 10th Anniversary celebration.

Missouri River Relief (MoRR) is operating two barges and a towboat to haul recovered debris along the 143-mile reach from the state capital to the Mississippi River. The River Cleanup Barge heads upriver towards Hermann on Sept. 24th, 2011photo by Dave Marner

The Clean Sweep voyage will start with a community-based cleanup with hundreds of local volunteers on Saturday, Oct. 1 in Jefferson City and will finish Saturday, Oct. 29, with a community-based cleanup at the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area near St. Louis. Click here for more information about the Jeff City Clean-up.

The collected trash and debris will be hauled on a sand barge and unloaded at terminals on the Mississippi River for recycling or proper disposal at landfills. The MoRR barge team will stay on a quarters barge with office and storage space, cabins, a galley and a bathroom.

Both barges will be pushed by a towboat named “River Cleanup” provided by Living Lands & Waters, an equipment-based organization similar to MoRR that conducts cleanups on the Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio and many other rivers. The LL&W founder, Chad Pregracke, inspired the creation of MoRR at the first big Missouri River cleanup on Oct. 6, 2001. He was instrumental for the event’s success by bringing his boats, barges and crew to Easley, Mo., where 300 volunteers removed 30 tons of trash

The Big Muddy Clean Sweep will be punctuated with stops at four river towns along the way — Jefferson City (Sept. 26-Oct. 2), Hermann (Oct. 3-9), Washington (Oct. 10-16), St. Charles(Oct. 17-23)— and at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

These week-long moorings will enable MoRR to conduct community-based cleanups with hundreds of local volunteers, educational field trips, river festivals, barge tours and celebrations Check for specific dates and activities at MoRR’s website: www.riverrelief.org.

Residents along the river that would like to be involved, or may know of trash or dumps accessible from the river that should be cleaned up may also contact Missouri River Relief through their website: www.riverrelief.org.

The first Clean Sweep cleanups originally were planned in Kansas City and Cooper’s Landing in Boone County but due to high river levels and flooding this year, the project started in a leapfrog manner. The first cleanup occurred Saturday, Sept. 10 in Kansas City from land-based sites instead of by boat. More than 250 volunteers cleaned up an estimated 7 tons of trash from 11 sites, including several public parks ravaged by flooding. Read more about the Kansas City Clean-up on our webpage.

The second series of cleanups happened Sept. 17-25 at Cooper’s Landing while the barge fleet was being transported upstream with a towboat provided by Hermann Sand and Gravel Company. This boat-based cleanup brought 186 volunteers on the river to remove 50 tires, 1/2 ton of scrap metal and 2.6 tons of trash. Volunteers included students from Douglass High School, Columbia Home School Resource Group and Garden Gate School, employees from Columbia Wal-Mart stores and members of Friends of Big Muddy, Missouri Master Naturalist, Missouri Stream Team and Sustain Mizzou.

MoRR and the Big Muddy Clean Sweep is the result of partnership, sponsors and volunteers who support the effort with time, energy, money and materials. Golden Mile sponsors, donating $10,000 or more to the Clean Sweep include Boeing, 3M, Missouri American Water, Solid Waste Management Districts, the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Pat Jones. A complete list can be seen at the MoRR website www.riverrelief.org.

River Relief’s 10th anniversary will serve as a springboard for future growth, building on existing partnerships and identifying key individuals and organizations in communities to form a coalition of Missouri River Action Teams (MoRATs) interested in improving the health and beauty of the Missouri River for decades to come.

Missouri River Relief is a non-profit organization based in Columbia, Mo., whose mission is to connect people to the Missouri River through hands-on river clean-ups, education events and restoration activities. In just 10 years,the organization has made a visible & lasting difference on the river bringing together more than 14,000 volunteers to haul more than 1 million pounds of trash from 667 miles of river shores.

2011 marks Missouri River Relief’s 10^th Anniversary.

Big Muddy Clean Sweep Log Book, Vol. 1 - Upstream

2011-09-25T18:58:00.000-06:00

Alton, IL to Jefferson City

diligently recorded by Jodi Pfefferkorn

The first batch of entries in the Log, recording the trip from Alton, IL toHermann, MO. The lead crew of the River Cleanup barge (Racin’ Dave Stevens& Jodi Pfefferkorn) works with Living Lands & Waters and Hermann Sandand Gravel to move the River Cleanup set-up upstream, picking up a sand flatfrom St. Charles along the way. Jeff Barrow, Anthony Pettit & Daniel Belshejoin the crew in Hermann.

Thursday – Sept. 22, 2011
Between Jeff in the River Relief van, Tammy in the Living Lands & Waters truck and Chad in a Living Lands & Waters plate boat, we were able to get all of our gear schlepped onto the barge by 2200. This included locking the plate boat up through the Alton Lock (#26) to pick up gear and back down again. Chad was pretty pumped when the lock master called him by name.

Racin’ and I hadn’t eaten all day so we scarfed down a DiGiornio pizza at 2330 while waiting for our barge pick up. (We later found out that Jeff had to suffice with fritos that wee in the van – I guess barge food isn’t so bad).

Friday – Sept. 23, 2011
We finished hooking up with our barge ride at 0145 near Wood River, IL. A strong Missouri River current & downhill flow to the Mississippi River made progress very slow at the Confluence. 1.3 mph for the first 3 hours, but managed a 2.3 mph pace by the time we reached Pelican Island.

Racin and I took 2 hour turns in the pilot house of the “River Cleanup” tow boat. We needed to keep both engines at full throttle to help the Kathryn Ann pull us upriver. I was in the pilot house at 1100 when the Kathryn Ann’s starboard engine suddenly shut off. I looked over at the pilot house & saw one of the deck hands motioning for me to pull back on my throttles. I complied and when I looked ahead I noticed that the barges were making a B-line for the bank. I couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. Before too long, the Kathryn Ann was reversing full throttle and we were underway again. I later found out that the second of the Kathryn Ann’s two pilots ran the tow boat over a wing dike, lifting her rudder up through the hull. When we got to St. Charles, the second captain asked to be let off the barge. He was literally dropped off on the bank.

We got to St. Charles around 1600 & stopped to pick up a sand flat from Gateway Dredging. While we were rigging up the flat, Jeff drove the 150 out to meet us and drop off supplies. He got a tour of our set-up & met the Kathryn Ann's crew - Chris, Kenny "Junior" & Capt. Steve. We were underway again by 1700.

We significantly picked up speed again & averaged 3.8-5.0 mph for the day. We pulled over & tied off for the night (to a tree) around 2330.

Hermann Sand & Gravel Kathryn Ann pulls the River Cleanup up to Hermann. photo by Dave Marner

River Cleanup tow at Hermann Riverfront - photo by Steve Schnarr

Saturday – Sept. 24, 2011
We were back on the river by 07:00 & kept 4 MPH average all day. Racin’ Dave & I kept our 2 hour shifts in the pilot house of the River Cleanup towboat. As far as food goes, I’ve cooked breakfast the past few days and Racin’ has taken care of dinner (we fend for ourselves at lunch). For breakfast: tomato, onion, & cheese omelets with bacon yesterday; and fried eggs with bacon and toast today. Racin’ made pork chops with boiled for dinner yesterday J. We tied up at the Hermann Sand & Gravel Plant at 1945. We have finally arrived! Dinner at “The Barrel” bar and restaurant, with Junior, Chris, Gale, & Jeff then some much needed rest.

Sunday, September 25, 2011
It was day of errands. Jeff, Racin’, & Gale motored upstream to the Gasconade River to check out a work barge that the Corps of Engineers had. I stayed behind to get some editing done. No editing got done though, because I brought the wrong power cord for my hard drive...

When they came back, Jeff stayed on the barge to get some work done while Racin’, Gale, & I took the van into town to get groceries and odds & ends. Gale and Jeff headed out in the late afternoon. Habibi & Anthony are coming tomorrow!

Monday, September 26, 2011
Wake up call at 0620. After breaking our fast with breakfast burritos and coffee, Racin’ & I set about making our game plan for the day. Items that we needed to address were…
1)    Get the Port-o-potties emptied and refilled.
2)    Fill the water tank in the basement
3)    Get diesel fuel for the engines and generator.
4)    Fill up tanks and get two more. Before we could do any of this, we had to ask Steve to tow our barge over the Hermann boat ramp because we were moored across the river at Hermann Sand & Gravel.
Captain Steve graciously offered to help us, so Racin’ and I set about making phone calls. When it was all said and done, we were able to get items 1 and 3 completed. We also took on two new crew members! Habibi and Boudreaux are officially on board with us.

Racin’ quickly put them to work changing the hydraulic filter. Habibi also whipped up a delicious dinner of pork steaks and mashed potatoes. It was the best way to end a task-filled day in which only two tasks were filled. Midnight cruise anyone???

Tuesday, September 26, 2011
Early wake-up call today: 0630. By 0700 Anthony & Racin’ had left in the 150 to go upriver to discuss borrowing a work flat from the Army Corps of Engineers boat yard at the mouth of the Gasconade River. Habibi & I set about getting some cleaning done. We completely dleaned & organized the basement, which was quite a task. By 0945 Anthony had returned (Racin’ stayed with our new tow crew from Jefferson City River Terminal.) Habibi & Anthony took the 150 to the Hermann boat ramp to make a hardware store run.

At 1045, the JCRT boat “Jamie Leigh” arrived with our work flat. By 1145 we were all hooked up & cruising upriver. We were only able to go about 3.7 mph because the work flat sits so low and kept taking on water. We did some re-rigging and were able to push on at around 5.5 mph

Racin’ Dave & I were able to take our first showers in 6 days thanks to the generosity of the amie Leigh deckhand, John. He let us use the shower on their tug & I even got to do some laundry!!

After a spaghetti lunch, compliments of Habibi, we all set out cleaning everything from the galley windows to the cobwebs around the house barge.

No rest for the weary…at around 1600 the boys had to pump out the hull of the house barge. The head had a small leak which we were aware of. But we weren’t aware that none of the other compartments had been checked for several months. It was a momentary stress for Racin’, but he was reassured after giving Geoff Manis a call at LLW and getting the scoop.

Passed the Osage River around 1945, eating a deluxe chili dinner prepared by Anthony. A perfect dish for this chilly evening.

We pulled up into Jeff City at 2230. We finished tying up and said our good-byes to Capt. Mark & John by 2300.

Jeff & Steve were here waiting for us. Welcome aboard boys!

River Kids Rock the River

2011-07-01T12:50:00.003-06:00

by Melanie Cheney

Well it started with a phone call, the River Kids were doing a week long, river-focused day camp and would love to join up with Missouri River Relief again on the Big River. We had taken them out last year on the Mississippi, locking through a dam for the first time and worked with them on several clean-ups in years past. They are a pretty hard-core group of kids, traveling to islands on the mighty Mississippi by canoe with our brother, Big Muddy Mike of Big Muddy Adventures, and have been doing small clean-ups on big rivers for years now.

So if that weren't enough incentive to hit the road with our boats, the River Kids have decided to host their annual party & fundraiser at the City Museum this fall in honor of Missouri River Relief's 10th Anniversary! So on up we went, to take the kids out on a river trip for their summer day camp.

We met the crew of 20 at the Columbia Bottoms boat ramp. As is usually the case when we travel to the confluence, the weather was less than ideal. Winds were blowing in gusts up to 30 miles an hour. I tied my hat on my head & recommended they do the same. Once we got out on the river, it didn't seem so bad, we motored up the wide Missouri, then floated back down towards the Confluence of the 2 biggest rivers on this continent, the Missouri & Mississippi.

On the even wider Mississippi, we floated past big islands, enjoying the up-close views of herons & egrets, and best of all, an active eagles nest, all the while, looking for somewhere to eat lunch. With the rivers running high this Spring, now into the Summer, there wasn't exactly any sandbars to stop at. So we simply ate lunch in the boats, which the kids didn't seem to mind at all. They were pretty easy going, and knew a "Big Muddy Adventure" entailed rolling with what the river handed you.

So on down we went, past the beautiful chain of rocks bridge to our destination, Mosenthein Island. Here along one of the biggest islands around, there was suppose to be guaranteed at least one sandy spit we could stop at & let them out to play. Well, there was a sandy spit, but it was about the size of a one-roomed shack. We stopped anyway, & had a fabulous time letting loose on what we called "Gilligans Island". There were perfectly round hatched out turtle eggs all over, water soaked sand which made for enticing "quick sand", along with a gigantic red buoy the kids had fun playing on. We took this group photo from "Gilligans Island" with the St. Louis skyline in the background as the kids literally walked on water.

Ok, it was time to get to work. Finding a dry place to get in on the island was next to impossible. It was super muddy with all the high water, so we just got muddy. There was trash all over the island, we only needed to cover about a 1/4 mile stretch before we had created a large pile of bags to be loaded onto the boats. The timing was perfect, one hour later, we were headed back for the bus. We let the kids out at North Riverfront park and formed a "daisy chain" to get the blue bags of trash to the nearest trash receptacle. Then cleaned up around the highly popular fishing spot before saying our farewells. The clouds finally cleared up & the wind calmed, what a beautiful day it had turned out!

We took our now empty boats back to the island, and loaded 22 tires the kids had piled up in past clean-ups with Big Muddy Mike before they floated away in what was sure to be more high water soon, & headed back to the Confluence.

It was our brand new plate boats first clean-up, and after asking the River Kids for ideas on names, we christened the boat in the Confluence, and dubbed it the "Robust Ana Deca" or "RAD" after some great suggestions by the river kids crew. It literally means "Robust Anniversary Decade". I don't know if that's what we'll call her for sure, but it sure did have a nice ring to it on her maiden voyage!

Many thanks to the New City School's River Kids, and their teacher Ben Griffiths for allowing us to be an integral part of such an outstanding crew of young people.

Return to Siouxland...

2011-05-23T13:21:00.005-06:00

Siouxland Missouri River Clean-up

Sioux City, IA & South Sioux City, NE

May 7, 2011

text by Steve Schnarr; photos by Steve Schnarr, Dylan Lehrbaum, Melanie Cheney, Colin Doggett
Check out all our photos from the clean-up by clicking here.
OR visit our full clean-up report here.

Marta, Sally & Desiree

We have a special relationship with the Siouxland area. With partners on both sides of the river coordinating local efforts and outreach, it’s become a four-year tradition to clean-up the head of the channelized river.

This year, local coordination was shared by Sally Reinert, of Keep Northeast Nebraska Beautiful, and Desiree McCaslen who works in environmental monitoring at the wastewater treatment plant on the Iowa side. They decided this year to hold both boarding and disposal on the Nebraska side, switching locations between states each year. It worked great! An added bonus this year was both Desiree and Sally were able to hit the river to help clean up this year.

They also fed our crew. There’s no better way to get into our hearts than serving up great food!

The big story this year was the high water. The Siouxland area rarely sees water this high, and with the Gavin’s Point Dam scheduled to release up to 60,000 cfs of water through December, the river will be this high or higher for most of the year.

While many worried about the safety of running a cleanup at such levels, we found this to be a good time to hold a cleanup. More areas were accessible since steep, loose riprap banks were underwater. It was tough to find landing spots through the trees in some locations, but volunteers were able to cleanup areas likely to be flooded later. However, one of the dumps we’ve been working on for several years was completely submerged. We’ll get it eventually!

Siouxland Mudpuppies –
Desiree and her husband Josh have been cultivating a group of high school students into a force for cleanup of their hometown. We’ve worked with these hard working environmental stewards for several years. This year, it was an all girl crew and they were great!

Nebraska Game and Parks –
One of our favorite agencies to work with is NGPC biologists. These folks are very skilled operators, and their huge boats can haul over a dozen people and a LOT of trash. This year, Ken Hatten and Kirk Steffenson were on board (NGPC was also helping at the Yankton clean-up…good work guys!).

Ken Hatten, NGPC, loaded this boat himself, cuz he was "bored". photo by Dylan Lehrbaum.

We were kind of blown away by Ken – he worked with Cargill volunteers and worked side by side with them, bumping them to several different cleanup spots. Then, after lunch, he disappeared for a while as we were regathering forces for the trash haul. Just as we were getting ready to head out, he showed up with his boat full to the brim with trash – filled completely by himself.

Cargill
The Cargill GOSCNA and DSO plants were our main cash sponsors of this event, and have been for several years. Plant manager Brian Spencer has turned it into a great team-building event for employees and their families. Our crew member Liz Doubet was our liason to the group, and she was impressed at how great the families worked together. It’s what we know about cleanups – it creates a unique opportunity for families to experience real nature and service to the river together.

Sioux Crew
A great mix of folks from both states helped run this event, from registration to safety to dispatch. Our crew members tried to teach how and why we do what we do, and this great crew of people made it happen. Thanks Sioux Crew!!!!

River Relief Crew
Our crew is made up of volunteers, mostly from Columbia and Kansas City, that travel all over the place making clean-ups happen. This time, we had one event in Omaha on April 30, then two events the following weekend in Yankton and Siouxland. Our “deep bench” of excellent crew volunteers has grown to the point where only three crewmembers had to help both weekends. This makes us able to accomplish so much more. Our small staff would really struggle without the dedication of this amazing and talented crew.

Trash Treasures
Check out the Trash Tally for some of the interesting finds from the clean-up. Of course the kilo of cocaine made the news, but there were some other interesting things. The Coast Guard Auxilliary (our partners for four years) pulled in an abandoned Jet Ski they’d been trying to get for several years. The high water made it easier to access.

The trash contest brought some great things to shore – the front end and gas tank from a motorcycle (Liz Doubet brought it home to make a bird house out of the tank) – a complete exercise machine – a typewriter (remember those?) – a Chinese flag – a wedding garter (!) – and a six-disc CD changer (with speakers). The "Most Unusual Find" went to a dog collar (complete with dog skeleton...ugh!). I never cease to be befuddled by the weird stuff people find on the river banks.

People + Action = Community Enhancement
Synergy is a welcome addition to any clean-up event. This time we teamed up with the PACE event. While some PACE groups worked on planting and beautifying Scenic Park, we worked on beautifying the river. Then we all got together for lunch and a really great Trash Contest. Good stuff!

Cool new trash bags
We were excited to try out the trash bags donated by Keep Iowa Beautiful. Bright orange (easy to see), biodegradable and tough – they worked perfectly. We’ll be finding out the source for these great bags and sharing it here. We need tough bags for river clean-ups – they get dragged through the woods and sometimes filled with sharp objects. We’ve seen lesser bags get shredded to pieces. The most exciting thing was that these bags are biodegradable – made of plant byproducts they don’t add to our consumption of plastic…the most common item we find on cleanups. Perfect!

This cleanup was a great example of how smaller groups of volunteers can make for a high quality event and still clean up a lot of trash. Many of our boats were able to stick with their volunteer groups, which makes it easier to shuttle to new locations when they get one place cleaned up. And our great crewmembers get a chance to work hand-in-hand with folks. It builds the energy and amazing things get accomplished. With only 97 volunteers, we removed 3.6 tons of trash! Great work everyone!

Urban camping
Most places we do cleanups, we find a riverside camp to base out of for the weekend. This time, Scenic Park gave us their whole “Eco-Cabin” complex for free. The staff was amazing and helpful, donating ice and firewood to us all weekend.

These cabins are something else. They are collaborative projects by college architecture students. One looks like a rusty metal cube with no entrance. But, you tug on a handle and suddenly one wall slides to the side, creating an lighted entryway. The top bunk is only accessible by climbing one of the walls. Awesome!

Cabin 1 has a wall that gets cranked up, creating an overhang and a perfect space for our kitchen. A beautiful rock fireplace area located on the point by the river was our gathering place. Perfect. Everyone commented on how strange it is to literally camp in the middle of a city. Trains, interstate traffic and the buzz of the city was ever present. The smell of the rendering plant on the Iowa side would drift over and make us gag. But then a flock of geese would fly overhead and the sun would set beautifully over the bridge. Such a great experience!

Thanks to all volunteers, sponsors and great partners that made this event happen. We know we’ll be returning to Siouxland for years to come.

The River as Muse

2011-05-20T12:16:00.007-06:00

River Excursion with Shawnee Mission East & North and St. Theresa's Academy art students

Kaw Point Park to Riverfront Park - Kansas City

April 23, 2011

text by Vicki Richmond, photos by Sarah Cook and Katie Crow

Boat trips are a terrific way to get folks immersed in the Big Muddy. Hundreds of people experience the Missouri River this way each year, through River Relief’s field trips.

Way back in January’s chill, I received a note from Adam Finkelston, Shawnee Mission East Visual Arts Dept. instructor and self proclaimed photography geek. He wanted to take students out on the river to inspire them to create art, and to view their community in a unique way. We’d be hosting aspiring artists, students who would be nominated and chosen by their teachers, and we’d spend the day traveling by boat. The outcome of the day would be an art show, held at a gallery this fall that would showcase the student’s work.

April 23 was a good day for a boat ride. Rainy weather gave way to clouds as MRR crew met at Kaw Point to splash boats in preparation for taking a unique group out for a day on the river. Students began arriving armed with cameras, sketch pads, notebooks and bags for collecting objects. Parents stood by watching as their kids were fitted into life jackets, given a brief safety talk and boarded the boats.

photo by Sarah Cook, Shawnee Mission East

The boats left the ramp on the Kaw (or Kansas River) and slowly made their way to the confluence with the Missouri. The bigger river was quite obviously running higher than the gentler Kaw; our boats were pushed to the south shore as the mighty Missouri currents push towards St. Louis.

We traveled the stretch between Kaw Point and the Main Street Pedestrian Walkway, taking time to notice the effects of our urban amenities. Bridges, a scrap metal yard, a wastewater treatment plant, armored stream banks and levee walls are juxtaposed with the original limestone ledge that allowed steamboats to unload cargo for transport to the Westport Trading Post. Cameras clicked as we powered past the Kansas City skyline.

Berkley Park, once the Kansas City Municipal Landfill, illustrates what can be done with land that isn’t suitable for building. Our boats pulled into shore so that students could walk the recently created USB Bridge underpass, investigate the Wharfmaster building and see the leftover round pads where grain bins once stood. Old brick in the power plant and newly planted native prairie and wetlands work together to combine the old and new.

photo by Katie Crow, St. Theresa's Academy

Back to the boats, and a migration to Riverfront Park Boat ramp allowed students to get a duck’s eye view of progress. The Paseo Bridge is being taken down in pieces to make way for the newly opened Kit Bond Bridge that connects Kansas City with her northern neighbors. Large cranes, working barges and a tug boat offered fodder for sketch books and cameras.

Pulling into Riverfront Park, we were greeted by the fisherfolk and morel hunters who have come to know our boats and crew. We disembarked and headed just downstream of the ramp to a high sand bar and large pile of drift wood for lunch. A small fire was lighted to warm marshmallows for tasty deserts. Students ate lunch and headed off to hike in the woods and explore the flood plain. Our crew relaxed while enjoying the student’s comments.

A goose was gently persuaded to leave her nest so that students could see the eggs nestled in warm down. The hubbub of lunch quickly became a deserted scene of jackets, backpacks and lunch bags as students explored the woods and hiked downriver.

photo by Katie Crow

While enjoying lunch, the tugboat Mary Lynn came through, offering everyone a chance to see commerce at work along the Big Muddy. Quickly employed cameras captured the turbulent water as crew raced to the boats to secure them. A small gathering of onlookers enjoyed looking over our vessels; it is a rare occasion when our boats don’t cause a stir. Having 28 red life-jacketed people made the scene even more inviting, and new friends were made in the assembled group.

All too quickly we loaded the boats again for the return trip upriver. Several stops were made for students to capture scenes and again we beached the boats, this time at the base of the scrap metal yard. Students made their way up the banks to investigate the area , and returned with pockets bulging with scraps of metal destined to become sculptural elements. A sign, a saw blade and a bag of metal disks joined the drift wood, beaver chewed willow poles and refrigerator door already on board.

We returned to Kaw Point and to a group of waiting parents, cheering and clapping as the boats gently touched shore. Students unloaded sketchbooks and backpacks with wide grins. The river made new friends, and the artists left with new inspiration. The fall will bring us full circle, when the art created from the day is shown.

photo by Katie Crow

We could not do projects like these without support! A big, muddy thanks to:

Adam Finkelston, Shawnee Mission East Visual Arts Department www.smsd.org/schools/smeast

Paul Dorrell, Leopold Gallery www.leopoldgallery.com

Students and Parents from Shawnee Mission East, Shawnee Mission North and St. Theresa’s High Schools

Missouri River Relief Crew Members: Vicki and Michael Richmond, Larry O’Donnell, Bill Fessler and Layla the Dog

Siouxland Trash Tally!

2011-05-16T14:25:00.001-06:00

Siouxland Missouri River Clean-up
Scenic Park Boatramp, S. Sioux City, NE
May 7th, 2011

photos by Dylan Lehrbaum, Donna Walter & Colin Doggett

For more results, including links to photos, media, etc, go to:
http://www.riverrelief.org/event/siouxland-missouri-river-clean-up-2011/

Total Volunteers: 97
MRR Crew: 17
Sioux Crew: 13
Boats: 6 (3 Missouri River Relief, 2 Nebraska Game & Parks, 1 U.S. Coast Guard
Auxiliary)
River Miles: 5
River Level: 23.7 ft
Tires: 33 (.56 tons)
Landfill Tonnage: 2.4 tons
Scrap Metal: .7 tons
Total Tonnage: 3.6 tons

Groups & Agencies Involved: Missouri River Relief, Missouri American Water, Keep Northeast Nebraska Beautiful, Nebraska Game & Parks, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Americorps State, Feed Energy, Dakota City Clover Kids, Cargill Inc. - GOSCNA and DSO, Siouxland Mudpuppies, Scenic Park, City of South Sioux City, South Sioux City YMCA

Names of River Teams: The Dog Pound, The Lagging Turtles, Clover Kids, Feed Energy, Mudpuppies, The Trash Picker-uppers

Trash Tally!!!!

124 Bags of Trash
33 Car & Truck Tires
3 Bicycle Tires
1 Tire Rim
6 Chunks O’ Styrofoam
1 Cooler
6 5-gallon Plastic Buckets
1 with Mystery Fluid
3 5-gallon Metal Buckets
1 55-gallon Plastic Barrel
8 rusty cans of Paint
1 Gas Can
1 guts of a Washing Machine
1 Chest Freezer
1 Metal Fire Grate
1 Lawn Mower Deck
3 Mattresses
5 Boxsprings
2 Chairs
1 yellow Toilet Tank & Lid
1 Vacuum Cleaner
1 Chinese Flag
3 Mufflers
1 Ford Grill
1 Buick Grill
1 Dodge Tail Gate
2 Gas Tanks
1 Car Battery
2 Train Parts
1 Motorcycle Cylinder Head & Jugs, Banana Seat, Fender, Front Forks, and Wheel
1 Tricycle

1 wrecked Kawasaki Jet Ski
2 pieces of Carpet
1 Concrete Block
1 Metal Siding
1 Heavy Duty Rope
1 PVC Pipe
2 Wire Fences
1 piece of Corrugated Metal
2 pieces of Rebar
1 Target Stand for shooting
1 Lead Pipe w/ Channel Iron
2 ½ ft Saw Blade Rotary
28 ft of Metal Cable
2 TVs
1 Typewriter
1 RCA 6-disk changer Stereo with 2 Speakers
1 Tarp
1 Window Shade
1 Milk Crate made into a bike basket
1 KB Transportation Sign
1 Squeegee Top
1 Highway Merge Sign
1 Picture Frame
1 Exercise Machine
1 pair of Blue Jeans
1 Golf Club Driver
1 CD
1 UNO Card
1 Wedding Garter
1 Blond Wig
1 Kilo of Cocaine wrapped in duct tape -turned into police
1 Ring Buoy Life Preserver
1 Dog Collar w/ complete dog skeleton & rabies tag
1 Feather in a Bottle

Omaha Trash Tally!

2011-05-13T13:40:00.003-06:00

Omaha-Council Bluffs Missouri River Clean-up

Riverfront Marina - Narrows River Park

April 30, 2011

Total Volunteers: 94
MRR Crew: 18
Boats: 8 (4 Missouri River Relief, 2 Nebraska Game & Parks, 1 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1 U.S. Coast Guard)
River Miles: 6 miles
River Level: 25 ft
Tires: 44 (.77 tons)
Landfill Tonnage: 3.96 tons
Scrap Metal: 1.1 tons
Total Tonnage: 5.83 Tons

Groups & Agencies Involved: Missouri River Relief, ConAgra Foods, Lamp Rynearson & Associates, Gallup University Green Team, Stalnacker MC, Union Pacific, Nebraska Game & Parks, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, Coram Deo Church, Council Bluffs Public Works, National Park Service, River Town String Band

Names of River Teams: The River Dogs, Blue Flamingos, MRR Tiger Team, The Shingles, Team Awesome, Team Tardy

Trash Tally!!!!
148 Bags of Trash
44 Tires
37 Chunks of Styrofoam
10 – 5 gallon Plastic Buckets
3 – 30 gallon Metal Drums
2 – 55 gallon Plastic Barrels
5 Coolers
2 Lids
1 Bicycle Wheel
1 Smoker Lid
1 plush Monkey
1 embroidered Pillow
4 Camp Stoves
1 Dog Crate
3 Coolers
1 Microwave
1 Oven Door
12 pieces of Carpet
1 Boxspring
½ of a Couch
6 ½ Chairs
2 Shopping Carts
2 Propane Tanks
1 Car Battery
1 Hammer
2 Hatchets
1 Dog Crate
7 Rubbermaid Tubs
1 Car Bench Seat
1 Tin Roof
1 Vent
20 bags of Shingles
Duct Work
1 Bird Cage
1 Colgate Toothpaste Tube
enough Clothes for 3 outfits
3 Strollers
1 Tennis Racket
1 Frying Pan
1 High-heeled Shoe
1 TV Screen
1 Tool Box
1 Suitcase
1 Stadium Seat
1 Spongebob
1 Snorkel
1 Saw Blade
11 Tents
20 Tarps
4 Sleeping Bags
50 ft of Rebar
1 Shovel
145 Poles
200 feet of Cable with the copper stripped out
1 Welder’s Hammer
1 unopened bag of Fruity Pebbles
1 Toy Gun
1 plastic light-up Angel
1 Railroad Spike
1 Baby Doll, no head
1 leopard patterned Bench Topper
1 rusty Bell
1 rusty Chain
1 GPS Cache, Kitty in a Bottle
1 palm-sized ceramic Flower Plate
2 little glass Perfume Bottles
1 women’s 1920s Hat
1 rusty Electric Razor
1 Lunch Box/Cooler
1 home-made Bow and Arrow
1 home-made fishing pole

Upriver to Omaha!

2011-05-13T13:22:00.005-06:00

Omaha-Council Bluffs Missouri River Clean-up

Riverfront Marina - Narrows River Park

April 30, 2011

text by Steve Schnarr, photos by Steve Schnarr & Vicki Richmond

For full results report, go to http://www.riverrelief.org/event/omaha-council-bluffs-clean-up-2011/

Click here to see more photos.

We headed upriver on Thursday, April 28 to begin a string of clean-ups for a week and a half. First, we’d be taking on Omaha-Council Bluffs. After wrapping that up, we’d be going to the Missouri National Recreational River near Gayville, SD, to help the National Park Service clean-up an old farm dump for a couple days. Then we were splitting up crews and doing a cleanup in the Siouxland area as well as helping Yankton with their annual event.

We drove straight to the Western Historic Trails Center in Council Bluffs to set up camp for the weekend. We camped in a beautiful stand of cottonwoods on the river side of the levee just a short walk from the river. Dave Stous drove up from KC and met us at the site, helping us throw up our Flying Nun kitchen tent and gather wood.

Because it was Racin’ Dave’s birthday, we headed into the Old Market area looking for a good steak. We found them, but were shocked when we saw the prices on the menu. In typical Racin’ style, though….price was no object. Sombra even got a really good bone out of the deal…

A Boat Full of “Dignitaries”
We got our boats in the water in the morning, and headed downstream to meet our first passengers of the weekend at the Riverfront Marina near the Qwest Center. We were taking the mayors from each town as well as the Colonel from the Omaha District Corps of Engineers out on the river (as well as our partner Jolene Hulsing from the Corps). Our second boat took out some local media as well.

We showed everyone what we would be working on the next day – some of the abandoned camps you could see from the river and debris scattered by the 2010 floods. But the main topic of conversation was the high river levels and what predictions were for the spring and summer. Because of the late, cool spring the Corps had just revised their runoff predictions and were in the process of ramping up releases from upriver dams to make room for more mountain snowmelt. Any major rainfall in the James or Big Sioux Rivers is likely to make things dicey down in Omaha.

Prairie Wind
As we headed back to the marina, the wind really started to kick in. As we began our scout in the afternoon, it got worse. One stretch just up from the I-80 bridge became a maelstrom with 3 – 4 foot waves rolling upstream. Anthony and Jody stayed at camp to keep an eye on the Nun, which was pulling stakes and loosening cords. The wind kept up until late evening and rolled throughout the cleanup. It wasn’t til Saturday evening that it really let up, although we’d be battling prairie wind the rest of the week.

Crews arrive
Before and after the scout, crews continued to arrive. Brady, Mel and the Franks rolled up with a boat. Jeanie and Jonesy showed up and immediately Jeanie whipped the kitchen into shape. Each clean-up we have a “Food Angel” who is in charge of the kitchen. Jeanie is the original and best Food Angel on the bench. She pre-cooks everything to make preparation simple and easy. And completely revamped our kitchen set-up to fight the wind. We had two guys manning the stove to relight it everytime a gust puffed it out. David Richter, Bill Fessler, Larry Shepard, Vicki Richmond and the Dewitte family rolled in to beef up the crew.

The Clean-up
A couple of our boats needed to be put in at the Narrows River Ramp, so several vehicles headed up that way. Only to find the (mostly flooded) ramp blocked by a massive tree. It took some serious creative wrangling to get it out of there, but that’s why we’ve got Racin Dave and Indi.

The rest of the crew set up registration and dispatch at the Marina, boats arrived and the game was on. We were treated to some really great Americana tunes by the River Town String Band (who also stuck around for lunch – thank you guys!!!) Volunteers trickled in nice and easy and we got them right out on the river. We had lots of great groups, from Gallup Green Team, Corum Deo Church, Stalnaker MC and Lamp Rynearson & Assoc. A crew of ConAgra Foods employees headed by van to a landsite under the I-80 bridge where they quickly created a huge pile of trash by the river.

After all the boats were out, we pieced together a crew of River Relief diehards to tackle what became known as the Mansion Camp – an abandoned tent/tarp complex on the side of the river that had been flooded last year and strewn throughout the woods. When those guys made it back, they went straight for the hand-washing station.

After several hours of hard work, everyone returned to the marina for lunch and the trash contest.

Here’s the entry for the “Most Fashionable Trash”:

And here’s the “Best Darn Find of the Day”:

Then the trash haul was on.

This was Indi’s first time hauling trash, and everyone was extremely impressed with his boat handling skills in the crazy wind. (He often gets stuck running a skid steer at the ramp). We were lucky that Council Bluffs Public Works showed up with a front-end loader. I didn’t catch the operator’s name, but he stuck around to the very end and was amazed at all the work the volunteers did. (Quote of the Day: You guys came all the way from Missouri to clean our river?)

We all returned to camp, exhausted but smiling. And the wind finally died down. We gathered around the campfire and exchanged stories from the day.

On to the next clean-up!!!!

Big Boats, a Cast Iron Tub and Icy Snow

2011-04-21T23:02:00.041-06:00

Confluence Trash Bash

Columbia Bottom Conservation Area –

Cora Island Unit of the Big Muddy Refuge
March 28, 2011

text by Steve Schnarr, photos by Melanie Cheney
Check out all of our photos from Confluence Trash Bash 2011 by clicking here.

I’m attempting to catch up on blogs about the great clean-ups we’ve been helping with lately…Bear with me!

The Confluence Trash Bash is a really unique event. People from several different creek watersheds join in to have a massive stream and river clean-up on the same day. The connecting tissue of all of these watersheds is that muddy water that runs out of the Missouri River and hugs the west side of the Mississippi as it flows downstream.

The event is a partnership of countless community groups. The Confluence Partnership, Trailnet and the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District lead the way, but everybody makes it happen.

photo by Melanie Cheney

While hundreds of community volunteers scoured the streams through their North St. Louis towns, we were one of several big river sites that day. And it should be said (as always, it seems, with the Confluence Trash Bash), the weather wasn’t the best.

Here's the other two big river sites:
Big Muddy Adventures and River Kids hopped in canoes to clean up Mosenthein Island – the massive forested island in the only “non-navigable” stretch of the Mississippi channel.They estimated piling up over 2 tons of tires, barrels and bagged up trash...which they spent the next couple days hauling to shore in canoes.

The Piasa Palisades Sierra Club and the Corps of Engineers tackled two big sites on either side of the Alton bridge on the Alton Pool of the Mississippi.4 tires, a recliner and the parts of a meth lab....so good to get that stuff out of there! Good work guys!

We put folks out in boats from the Columbia Bottom access. Because of the cold, blustery conditions and the threat of snow, many folks that signed up for our Missouri River site just plain didn’t show up. The solution to that was to rob volunteers from other sites that had more than enough.

The site groups were all gathered on straw bale rings near registration. One by one I was able to ask the groups…who wanted to help us on the big river - where it was cold, windy and dangerous. Most people would look at each other and shake their heads. A few in each group smiled. Those folks got maps from me and headed to Columbia Bottom.

In bad weather, there are two clean-up sites near Columbia Bottom that people can always work on. The cool thing is - they are directly across the river from each other just a mile and a half upstream of the boat ramp.

One is a low bank, outside bend spot that always collects tons of trash coming out of Coldwater Creek. Always lots of toys.

photo by Melanie Cheney

The other is an old farm dump on the newly opened Cora Island Unit of the Big Muddy Refuge. We’ve been working on this for several years – along with a contractor with the Army Corps of Engineers. The heavy equipment hauled out the big stuff, volunteers are sweeping up everything else the hard way.

photo by Melanie Cheney

Shovels and pry bars, ropes and teamwork. And it is just amazing to see the difference! This year’s prize was a cast iron tub. It took six people to haul out through the cottonwood forest.

photo by Melanie Cheney

The piles that grew on both sides of the river were amazing. And felt so good.

After several hours of scouring the banks for trash, we hauled most folks back to shore. They were headed back to a great lunch and celebration at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. Trash Contest…the whole deal.

We headed back out to bring all that trash back before the predicted snow. A whole bunch of folks stuck around for the trash haul, and it went smooth as it could be. As we finished, a hot lunch arrived from the Bridge and we hunkered down in the new Columbia Bottom pavilion and feasted.

Here's a beautiful thing: as we came off the river, all of our friends from the area that just finished up their sites came to help us finish off ours...and clean our tools and pack up. If my face wasn't froze I would've cried.

photo by Melanie Cheney

We trailered our boats full of trash. Landfill junk got offloaded at the dumpster at the ramp. Everything else (tires, scrap metal, a cracked tub) we kept in the boats and dragged to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge….that amazing, crooked pedestrian bridge across the Mighty Miss. We added our pile of junk to the amazing pile that people had gathered all day in a string of dumpsters full of metal, trash bags and tires.

photo by Melanie Cheney

The ride home was into the teeth of the snowstorm, trying to get our boats and vans back home while we could still park them in our boat yard. It worked, but our boats and vehicles were all coated with a half inch of ice by the time we made it back home.

The snow was gone by the next afternoon.

photo by Melanie Cheney

Missouri River Relief Celebrates 10 Years of Good, Clean, Trashy Fun, makes Congressional Record

2011-03-07T14:11:00.007-06:00

On February 3^rd, Missouri River Relief was honored in the U.S. Senate by Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill in an official Congressional Record.
>> Read it here

How did we come this far? Well, here's the story: In 2001, it started as an offbeat idea.

Gather as many people as you can on the banks of the Missouri River, stick them in boats, drop them off along the banks of the river, and see how much trash we can get out of there.

It turned out to be a really good idea.

There is no better way to build a network of river advocates than to get a bunch of river lovers to work side by side with folks that have never been on the river before, a community of people beginning to see the Big Muddy in a new light. And after a few precious weekend hours, you have a massive pile of trash to show for it. Literally tons of trash, pulled from the stream of garbage pulsing down our great river, the idea has become an organization dedicated to connecting people to this river, through hands-on river clean ups, education events and restoration activities. Meet Missouri River Relief.

photo by Wayne Werkmeister, National Park Service

Bringing tools, expertise, knowledge and an undying desire to get the work done, 2011 marks the organizations 10th anniversary of hands-on river work. In just ten years, the organization has made a visible and lasting difference in over 20 river communities, bringing together more than 14,200 volunteers to haul more than 1 million pounds of trash (592 tons to exact) from 667 miles of river, and we’re just gaining steam.

To celebrate these accomplishments, build new partnerships, and continue the action, Missouri River Relief has an ambitious year of activities planned. Starting this winter, River Relief is taking to the skies to conduct an aerial inventory of trash accumulations on the river and its floodplain with Eco-Flight.

photo from EcoFlight webpage: www.ecoflight.info

Areas of concentrated trash will be identified and mapped while the foliage is bare, and made available in a spatial database. Upriver clean-ups will begin in the spring from Yankton, S.D. to Omaha, NE followed by the kick-off of our signature event of the year, the Big Muddy Clean Sweep, beginning in Kansas City on Sept. 10th. The aerial “MegaScout” will be used to guide clean up activities as River Relief gears up for a massive rolling clean-up by barge .

The Big Muddy Clean Sweep in the fall will feature a garbage barge on a downriver voyage from Kansas City to the confluence with the Mississippi River in St. Louis over a two-month period (September 1st - November1st). The barge will stop in river towns for community clean-ups, educational events and barge tours.

photo from Living Lands and Waters website: www.livinglandsandwaters.org

River Relief’s 10^th anniversary will serve as a springboard for future growth, building on existing and new partnerships, and identifying key individuals and organizations in communities to form a coalition of Missouri River Action Teams (MoRATs) interested in improving the health and beauty of the Missouri River for decades to come.

Ready to jump on board? Keep checking in at www.riverrelief.org for our 2011 schedule and links to other helpful resources, and get ready to take action! Bring friends and family, recruit your business or organization, offer a product or service, or make a financial contribution to help turn the props.

“A river that once had almost no friends now has a growing host of passionate protectors, thanks to Missouri River Relief.” -Jim Low, writer for the Missouri Department of Conservation.

text by Melanie Cheney

7th Annual Old Plank River Road Clean-up!

2011-03-01T16:22:00.003-06:00

Old Plank River Road Clean-up Results

Cooper’s Landing, Rivermile 170

February 20^th, 2011

25 Volunteers

5 Road miles

18 Bags of Trash

31 Bags of Recyclables

1 Twin mattress

1 Garden liner

1 Door

Total Estimated Tonnage: .67 tons

text & photo by Melanie Cheney

Films, Friends and great River Tunes

2011-02-15T10:30:00.002-06:00

Wild & Scenic Film Festival

The Blue Note, Columbia, MO

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011

text by Steve Schnarr

Cabin Fever Breaks at the Blue Note
Last Wednesday, Feb. 8, was one of the coldest nights of the year. The Blue Note was downright chilly when we got there in the afternoon to set up the Wild & Scenic Film Festival. But it didn’t take long to heat up once the doors opened and warm bodies filled the old theater.

After a couple of brutal winter weeks, cabin fever was in the air in Columbia and lots of old and new friends came out for an evening of movies, inspiration and great music. It was really fun for us at Missouri River Relief, because it was the kickoff for our 10th anniversary – a chance to look back at a bunch of good work and forward to ambitious plans this year.

Films Inspiring Action Across the Country
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour is a traveling offshoot of a festival held each January in Nevada City, CA. The original event was put together by a local citizen river group to bring people together, learn about citizen action and natural adventure around the world, and be inspired to take action in their community. The South Yuba River Citizen’s League (SYRCL) loved what the festival did in their town, and decided to leverage that power across the country using local grassroots organizations as hosts.

When we realized that one of the films was the Missouri Stream Team documentary (including a piece about River Relief), we decided to host the festival in Columbia. A grant from Patagonia sealed the deal.
We spent a few months with a group of River Relief crew volunteers putting together the film list and ideas on spicing up the event. Films were selected from a pool of choices screened at the full festival. The SYRCL festival staff provided tons of great advice and resources for pulling off a quality event. Richard King, the owner of The Blue Note, offered us a full night in their historic theater for free. Everything snowballed into the set up for a perfect evening.

We chose to show four main, longer topical films (around 25 minutes apiece) sprinkled with shorter, more creative pieces. “Big River” was a great way for us to start out. It’s all about thinking about our downstream impacts – – something Missouri River Relief is all about. It was followed by a piece on young, innovative farmers and a look at West Virginia citizens fighting the effects of mountain-top removal coal mining on their communities (“Greenhorns” and “Burning the Future”). Shorter films included “Get Up Stand Up” (about river surfing in Wyoming), “Lady Bug Swarm” (just plain beautiful), “Garbage Angels” (a mythical animated romp through a garbage dump) and “The Majestic Plastic Bag” (a mock-umentary of the migration of a shopping bag). Click here for more about the films, and links to trailers.


Filmmaker (and River Relief founder) Jim Karpowicz

Local filmmaker Jim Karpowicz, also one of the founders of River Relief, introduced young film makers Nick Rotts and Julian Segert and their PSA on stormwater pollution in Hinkson Creek. Then he introduced his inspiring documentary about the 20 years of the Missouri Stream Team program.You can see the whole thing on You-Tube here.

We wanted the night to enlighten and inspire our friends and it really seemed to work.

A Community Effort
In addition to the hard working Blue Note staff, River Relief crew members greeted people, set up a silent auction and raffle, sold repurposed t-shirts and introduced the films. Everyone had short shifts so they could enjoy most of the night.

Ruthie Moccia & Jeanie Kuntz show off their
beautified t-shirt collection

Tons of local friends donated art, books, services and goodies to be auctioned and raffled off. River rats Barbara and Roger Giles walked off with a weekend in Rocheport, with a stay at the Katy Trail Bed & Bikefest, dinner at Abigails, some great books from Pebble Publishing and a couple bottles of Les Bourgeois wine. The Alpine Shop kicked in a cash donation and a kayak paddle.

Big Muddy Adventures, our partners in the Confluence area, put up a guided canoe float for auction. Tim Nigh was the auctioneer, and he goaded the crowd into bidding up to $450 for the trip. Diane Oerly, a longtime River Relief friend, took the top bid. (I hope I can buy a ticket on that boat trip!) Tim can be pretty persuasive, even dragging Brett Dufur (himself a Missouri River canoe guide) into the bidding.

Naked Dave Bandy at
Hartsburg Clean-up, 2008

A special treat was a visit from Allison Skare, who works in Senator Claire McCaskill’s office. The previous week, Sen. McCaskill gave a resolution on the Senate floor honoring Missouri River Relief volunteers for their 10 years of getting it done on the Big Muddy. Allison read a few pieces of the resolution, and handed a copy over to our Director, Jeff Barrow.

The whole thing was topped off with music by our dearest river rat musician friends. “Naked” Dave Bandy coordinated the music. His band Crazyfish invited a bunch of friends on stage to jam on river tunes written by local songwriters (including themselves, of course). I’ve always said that this band sounds best over the river, from a canoe floating down towards Cooper’s Landing. But they sounded righteous in the Blue Note! Then a mutant version of the Roadkill Orchestra took the stage, with “Uncle Denny” Termanian joining Dyno Penny and Karen Crane. It was like transporting the big sycamore at Cooper’s Landing right into downtown Columbia.

River Relief on KOMU news!

2011-01-19T13:23:00.001-06:00

posted by Steve Schnarr

Yesterday afternoon we got a call from a reporter for KOMU Channel 8 in Columbia looking to do a story about our 10th Anniversary. Somehow, she wrapped our 10th anniversary, our Big Muddy Session and the Wild & Scenic Film Festival at the Blue Note all into one short piece. She did a great job! Thanks Marissa!

Karl's Big River Adventure

2010-11-11T12:06:00.008-06:00

St. Joseph Missouri River Clean-up

French Bottom River Access & Boat Dock, St. Joseph, MO - Rivermile 450
October 16, 2010

text by Steve Schnarr, photos by Vicki Richmond and Kris Lancaster (EPA)
For more clean-up info and results, click here

At our St. Joseph clean-up, we had a special visitor. Karl Brooks, the Regional Administrator for Region 7 of the US Environmental Protection Agency came for lunch and to help us out with the trash haul (by the way, if you click that EPA link above and scroll down, you can see their news release on the clean-up).

The trash haul is one of the most rewarding parts of the day. You get a good boat ride through the whole reach of the clean-up and get to see all the piles of trash volunteers collected throughout the morning. Then you pick those piles up and load 'em into a boat. When Karl told our director, Jeff Barrow, that he wanted to help at a clean-up, Jeff suggested he come for the trash haul.

Karl was a hard worker (yeah, it looks like he's lounging in this photo...but a big pile of trash bags is a great place to recline in between hitting trash sites!). And a really pleasant part of the crew. This gave our board president Dave Stous a chance to explain what Missouri River Relief does for the river and the citizens that live along it. Good stuff!

Karl immediately "got it". Although he'd lived for many years in Lawrence, KS, on the banks of the Kaw River, he'd never been on the Mighty Missouri before. "I can't tell you how many times I've driven over this river on bridges," he said, echoing the response we hear from so many volunteers. "But getting out on it in one of these boats is completely different. You can feel the power of this amazing river, and feel that it's actually alive."

That's such a big part of what we do - exposing people to the world class resource we have right under our noses in a way that is so personal, so hand-on that it changes people.

It was an honor to show the Big Muddy to Karl Brooks and the EPA crew.

Speaking of the EPA crew, EPA biologist Deanna Collier led a group of EPA boat operators that morning, hauling volunteers out on the river. They did a wonderful job, and we'd be sunk without the help of river experienced pilots like EPA, MDC, USFWS and more.

By the way, Karl wanted us to pass on his appreciation to all of you who have given up your Saturday mornings and more to clean-up our Big Muddy Missouri River.

So Thanks!

St. Joe Trash Tally!

2010-11-08T22:15:00.005-06:00

St. Joseph Missouri River Clean-up

French Bottoms River Access & Boat Dock, St. Joseph, MO - Rivermile 150
October 16, 2010
(for more info & links about this clean-up, click here)

Total Volunteers: 278
MRR Crew: 21
Boats: 13 boats (3 Missouri River Relief, 5 Missouri Department of Conservation, 2 EPA, 3 local boaters)
River miles: 12 rivermiles
River Level: 14.7 feet (St. Joseph gage)
Landfill Tons: 3 tons
Scrap Metal: 1.3 tons
Tires: 117 tires (2.1 tons)
Total Tonnage: 6.4 tons

Trash Tally!
289 bags of trash
117 tires
Countless plastic bottles and little pieces of Styrofoam
1 large innertube
6 plastic milk crates
11 large chunks of Styrofoam
7 chunks of plastic
1 cooler
8 5-gallon plastic buckets
2 cans of paint
2 5-gallon metal buckets
2 55-gallon metal drums
4 55-gallon plastic barrels
1 control panel from a dredge
1 ringer washer
Complete game of washers
3 fire extingishers
1 message in a bottle
1 duck decoy
1 planter made from a tire
1 plastic leg from a doll
1 lawn troll
Small refrigerator
1 brand new pair of boots
1 pair of boots a little worse for the wear…
1 silk scarf
1 stained glass cube
1 framed dolphin print
1 hand saw
1 electric shaver
1 very large propane tank
1 small propane tank
1 helium tank
1 toaster
Several computers and computer parts
1 microwave
1 screen door frame
1 set of venetian blinds
1 queen-size box-spring mattress

11 chairs
1 semi-truck mudflap
1 large Tupperware container
1 small TV
1 big-screen TV
11-foot hydraulic coupling hose
1 car bumper
1 car seat bench
1 car seat
1 truck bed liner
1 hide-a-bed frame
1 railroad angle bar
1 CCA wood beam
1 push broom
1 piece of chainlink fence
5 bags of moldy clothing
1 toy playhouse
1 toy parking garage
1 desk and the entire contents of a person’s office, including file cabinet, electronic goods, computer manuals, briefcase, a Bible and much, much more dumped along the Riverfront trail and covered with a tarp
5 blankets

1 record
25 pieces of assorted scrap metal
1 green buoy
1 rebar grate
1 metal ironing board
1 metal grill
1 metal tray
1 very large big metal sign
1 computer monitor
1 garden hose
5 torn, moldy tarps, one with the remains of an unidentifiable animal
Parts of 5 tents
20 tent poles
1 foam cushion
1 rake
1 kitchen sink
1 pool lining
1 plastic wash sink

Back in ol' St. Joe

2010-11-08T20:46:00.005-06:00

St. Joseph Missouri River Clean-up

French Bottom River Access and Boat Dock, St. Joseph, MO - Rivermile 150
October 16, 2010

text by Steve Schnarr, photos by John Wood, Hana Kellenberger, Vicki Richmond, Steve Schnarr, Alicia Pigg
(for more cool links and facts about this clean-up, click here)

I spent a lot of time in St. Joseph getting ready for this clean-up. It was originally scheduled for June 26, but St. Joe was experiencing its third highest flood since the dams were put in, and we had to postpone the event. With our busy summer and fall, October 16 turned out to be our free weekend.

So I got to return to St. Joe several times in the planning stages. When you postpone an event like this, you always kind of worry that the energy may fizzle out and you end up with a shadow of what could have been.

Luckily, in St. Joe, the opposite happened. More people got interested and the energy built. The line of folks at sign-up was impressive.

Many groups of scouts came to help, and it was like they were on a mission. Troop 45 turned the event into a campout on the river, setting up their headquarters in the woods behind the Remington Nature Center. Several local companies gathered together crews of employees to pitch in, including Missouri American Water and Boehringer-Ingelheim. Alpha Phi Omega chapters from 3 universities (including from Springfield!) showed up to help. Missouri Western State students from several clubs put it on their calendars.

River Rat on Duty
Our local “point of the spear” for getting the word out was Ken Reeder, a local river rat who’s made it his mission to reconnect St. Joseph to the river that created the city. Ken serves on the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee, a federally mandated group of stakeholders in the river that represent each state and tribe along the longest river in North America. He’s one of the few citizen members of the committee, traveling to meetings on his own dime and representing the interests of citizen recreation on the Lower Missouri River. Here's Ken in the yellow greeting returning clean-up volunteers.

Ken played a major role in acquiring funds for St. Joseph to install one of the few public boat docks on the Lower Big Muddy. He adopted this clean-up as his own, and even “adopted” the French Bottom Boat Ramp through the Missouri Stream Team “Adopt-an-access” program. He was invaluable in spreading the word about the event, and helping me meet the people I needed to make it happen smoothly.

Good Food is SOOOOO Important
One of the folks Ken introduced to me was Craig Traverse from Terrible’s St. Jo Frontier Casino. The casino is located right next the boat ramp. The restaurant has a great view of the river. Craig immediately offered to cater lunch. It’s been a while since we had lunch catered to a clean-up, but never with tables and chairs set up in a nice white-picket fenced yard next to the river with steamer trays full of a variety of lunch options. It was a great scene to see all the hard working volunteers eating good food together, wearing the variety of t-shirts we had available to give out.

Biologists Sampling River Trash
One of our biggest partners of the event was Missouri Dept. of Conservation. They brought 5 boats from two offices to haul volunteers, and helped spread the word in St. Joe and help me scout sites to tackle by land. A lot of these folks spend many days on the river, trying to gauge the health of the fish and wildlife that live in this massive, muddy ecosystem. The fact they are willing to hop on the river again, on their weekends, to help this effort makes us really proud.

On the right is MDC fisheries biologist Darby Niswonger introducing a new group of volunteers to the Missouri River.

Harold Kerns was the St. Joseph MDC fisheries supervisor when I first started working on this project and had been a huge help at our previous St. Joe event. He is also an area leader in the Boy Scouts, and really helped spread to word to troops what a valuable and fun experience this is for the boys. By the time the clean-up happened, though, he had retired and his local staff picked up the slack. Congrats on a great career, Harold, and may you have many more river days to enjoy!

Troop 45
The Boy Scout and Cub Scout troop that turned the weekend into a camp-out, Troop 45, decided to stick to land at the clean-up, and they scoured the part of Waterworks Rd. that skirts through Sun Bridge Conservation Area. They hopped in a couple of our vans driven by Racin’ Dave and John Brady and headed to this steep, narrow gravel road where folks have been dumping tires and trash for years.

Those scouts and their parents pulled 76 tires and a pickup truck and trailer full of junk out of that area. It was an astounding pile from some really hard working and fun volunteers. It was a pretty dangerous spot to be working, but everyone worked together and took their time and the work got done.

As a special treat, we all got to meet our Region 7 EPA Administrator Karl Brooks in the afternoon. He came out for the trash haul, to see all the work volunteers had done and help get it to shore. He immediately fit in - and saw the value of citizen cooperation in taking care of our environment. Here is helping unload a boat full of junk from the river:

French Bottoms Access, and the Remington Nature Center parking lot, was built on an old landfill and EPA Superfund site. There are several areas like this in different communities along the river. Where cities and companies once saw the river as a convenient dumping ground, communities are seeing these cleaned up dumpsites as opportunities to reconnect with the river.

Trash Contest
For some folks, the trash contest during lunch is the highlight. They’ve found these cool trash treasures on the river and it gives them a chance to show them off. The display of found goodies was awesome. A complete washers game set beat out a Spiderman fishing rod (still in the packaging) for “Best Darn Find of the Day.” Guess which of these won "Wierdest Trash"...

(it was the leg)

A Haven
After a day showing the river to hundreds of people, getting boats in and out of the water, hauling trash and rolling tires and barrels, putting pop-up tents up, then moving them, then taking them down, our volunteer River Relief crew is pretty exhausted. Having a really nice place to relax, crack open a cold barley-pop and eat a good meal around a campfire is key. Phil and Maryanne Weaver opened up their perfect riverside clubhouse up to us, and even let us dip into their firewood stash. Hy-Vee donated a supurb fresh catfish dinner and we traded stories over a campfire on a beautiful, clear night capped off with a moonlight boat ride around the bend. This is what keeps us coming back!

Kansas City Missouri River Clean-up Results!

2010-10-12T11:47:00.007-06:00

La Benite Park, Sugar Creek, MO
October 2nd, 2010

photos by Alicia Pigg

Total Volunteers: 380
MRR Crew: 50
Boats: 16 (4 Missouri River Relief, 3 Living Lands & Waters, 3 MDC, 2 EPA, 2 Rivermiles, 1 Burns & Mac, 1 Private)
River Miles: 11 (mm 348-359)
River Level: 19 feet
Landfill: 4.1 tons
Scrap Metal: 1.5 tons
Tires: 39 (.68 tons)

Total Tonnage: 6.28 Tons!

Stream Teams: 1875, 4083, 41, 3112,

Volunteer Groups Involved: Unilever, Coca-Cola, Cargill, UMKC Environmental Awareness Club & Environmental Science Classes, Shawnee Mission NW Highschool, Nativity Scouts 178 (Nativity of Mary School), Singles Available for Community Service (SACS), Audubon Society, MO Master Naturalists, Friends of the River - KC, Ozark Wilderness Waterways Club, Crossroads Church, BMCD, G.A.P. of Breakpoint Community Church, Kansas City Power & Light, Kansas City Water Services, Park University, Rockhurst, Platte River Paddlers, MO Stream Team, NLO Highschool, Rivermiles Llc

Names of River Teams: Fish Stix, Big Bad Red, Cougar 1 – 7, the Lipton Tea Bags, the Turd Burglars, Pocahontas, the 4th Floor, the Giant Fish, the Silver Carp, the Kangaroos, the Trashbusters, Fish out of Water, Cricket Teeth, River Rats, Pterodactyl, the River Turtles, Park University, River Gizzards, Rockhurst River Rats, Mark Twain, the Night Hawks, Thermal Inversion, the Cobras

Trash Tally!!!!
247 large Bags of Trash
39 Tires
12 chunks o’ Styrofoam
1 Foam Treetrunk
8 Coolers
7 Plastic Buckets
4 – 55-gallon Metal Drums
11 – 55-gallon Plastic Barrels
4 – 20-gallon barrels
4 Refrigerators
10 chunks o’ Plastic
1 – 8-foot PVC Pipe
1 Keg
1 Pig Pen?
10’ x 20’ honeycomb Landscaping Bank Stabilizer
4 Plastic Poles
1 Picnic Table
2 Buoys
5 Gas Cans
1 Paint Can
1 Plastic kid’s Slide
3 Propane Tanks
½ of a Couch
2 Chairs
1 Sheet Metal panel 4’x 8’
1 Steel Cable
1 T-Post
2 Showerwalls
1 - 8’ Florescent Bulb
1 Plastic Grenade
A whole Bunch of Balls
1 Syringe
1 Stereo Speaker
1 small Plastic Buffalo
1 plastic Hard Hat
1 unpermitted Landfill full of household trash

a weekend in the little hills

2010-09-28T21:48:00.010-06:00

St. Charles Missouri River Clean-up

Bishop's Landing at the Lewis & Clark BoatHouse
Sept. 10-12, 2010

text by Steve Schnarr, photos by Alicia Pigg, Tom Ball, Vicki Richmond, Penningtons, others?
for more on this event, see our event page:
http://www.riverrelief.org/event/st-charles-missouri-river-clean-up-2010/

As we were preparing for dinner on the banks of the Missouri River in St. Charles, a lone kayaker pulled his boat up the abandoned boat ramp by Lewis and Clark BoatHouse and started unloading gear.

It turns out, this was Tom (never caught his last name) who had started paddling at Three Forks, Montana, where the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers join to form the Missouri. He had started in May.

We invited him to dinner and to camp with us, under the shadow of the BoatHouse. The idea of a cold beer seemed like a really good one to Tom. He politely took a barrage of questions from our crew, laughed and shared stories.

And he had a funny observation. “As I was paddling downstream, all of a sudden I saw these blue bags laying on shore. At first I was kind of pissed and thought about pulling over and picking them up,” he said. “After seeing several, I started to realize this was probably part of the clean-up”.

Tom had heard about the clean-up from “Big Muddy” Mike Clark, our friend and fellow river cleaner who has introduced many hundreds of people to the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers through his Big Muddy Adventures guide service. Tom had called Mike for advice, and he suggested that if he was coming through St. Charles on Sept. 10 or 11, he ought to find the River Relief crew if he wanted to sit around a campfire with some fellow river rats and swap stories.

Those blue bags are our “trash flags”. The day before a clean-up, an early crew heads to our campspot, sets up our “Flying Nun” kitchen tent, and sends out a couple of boats with trash bags, maps and a dispatcher. The crew’s job is to find the places where we can safely drop off volunteer crews the next day. To make it easy for the clean-up boat drivers to see those spots, we flag them with a big, blue Stream Team trash bag with a rock in it tossed on shore.

The dispatcher marks all these spots on a map with descriptions of how many people the spot can take, any special notes on finding the trash and what tools the crews will probably need. She divies the river reaches up into sections that can take several boatloads of volunteers and makes an individual map for each boat driver on the clean-up. This is a simple way to communicate to the boat drivers where to take volunteers. Ideally we cover 10 miles of river at a big clean-up – five miles up, five miles down.

Even though he was exhausted from his months of river travel, Tom fit right in with the crew the next day. The only way things work at an event like this is if the volunteer crew is proactive in seeing what needs to be done and getting it done. Tom was right there, hopping in wherever the action was. An instant crewmember.

This brings me to our crew. Missouri River Relief has a staff of three full-timers and two part-timers. Everyone else is a volunteer. Essentially what staff does is to organize a framework where our volunteer crew can step out of their busy lives and have a fun and productive weekend by making these events happen.

Without this base of unreasonably dedicated volunteers, nothing would get done. They give many, many weekends – and often Thursdays and Fridays – plus countless evenings and free time, to keep the machine rolling. They operate our boats, keep them maintained and working, and train new operators on safe and efficient river piloting. They plan camp menus and prepare amazing food for the crew. They offer ideas on improving our systems and then implement them. The degree of passion and care they give to even the smallest details is kind of stunning. Our biggest fear is burnout, so we try to keep things interesting and fun, and to always bring new people into the crew so the burden doesn’t fall on too few old-timers. It’s a tough balance, but so far it’s worked.

I have no idea how this thing keeps working – it seems like magic. What makes it tough to define is that the magic is held within many different, very special people. But it seems that the glue holding it together is a love for the river, a willingness to work hard and selflessly, and a love for each other.

People certainly ask me, “How do I get one of those crew shirts?” The only way I know to answer is to describe what River Relief crew does – travel all over the watershed doing the behind the scenes work that makes an event run smooth. Then I say, “It’s pretty much a personal decision. You decide that at this time in your life, you want to be part of the River Relief crew. And you email me and get on the crew list and when you can help, you come help.”

In St. Charles, and also the bigger Confluence area, we’ve been doing clean-ups since 2002. There’s a tribe of folks that always shows up for clean-ups in the area, and they form the base of our St. Lou crew. I don’t really know if these folks met through our events, around our campfires, or if they knew each other before because of their river-obsessed ways.

There’s Jim Denner, the anatomy teacher from Lindbergh High School. Every time we’re anywhere close, he brings 35 to 50 students – most of which have never been on the Missouri River before. This year there were two events close to St. Louis – in Washington in April and St. Charles this Sept. He brought kids to both. In Washington, the kids were in a hurry to get out of there after a morning of hard work, because that was their Prom Day…!

Tom Ball – a lifelong river educator and stream defender. He shows up when he can and leaves when he has to. From safety talk to tire wrangling to renditions of Neil Young around the campfire, it would be a sad clean-up if Tom didn’t show up. This time, he took the Fort Zumwalt Trashinators out on the river and showed 'em how it's done. That's him in the front there with the orange Americorps lifejacket.

Mighty 211 – this crew is Stream Team #211 from the Meremec River at Arnold. In St. Charles this year, Bernie Arnold and Laurie Fauretti both came to help. Bernie brought his tire trailer, worked the lifejacket pile then hopped on the river to haul in garbage. After working registration into shape, Laurie got lunch going then did the afternoon trash haul. At 211 clean-ups she usually helps organize the lunches and was glad for the chance to leave the food scene and hit the river. Boy do I know that feeling… going to someone else’s event and getting to do the actual work.

Craig Holt – Craig started showing up to River Relief clean-ups about five years ago. He’d usually come a day early, get his own camp set up, then be there to help every step of the way. I remember last time we had a big event at Columbia Bottoms and he showed up with a pot of stew when we arrived with no dinner plans. This time, Craig couldn’t get there ‘til Saturday morning. We actually had a ceremony to conjure up Craig the night before.

Craig on the left and Rod on the right load up Greg Dennigmann's bucket with river trash.
photo by Alicia Pigg.

Big Muddy Adventures – these guys are our true partners in the Confluence area. They are their own river clean-up crew, by canoe only. Mike Clark and Betsy Tribble show up with their Clipper Canoe (seats 12) and hit the river with big smiles whether they have a crew or not. Then proceed to fill that boat with trash on their way downstream. Betsy and Mike also take a group of students called the River Kids out in canoes once a month to clean up and experience the two mightiest rivers in the country: the Missouri and Mississippi.

This is the BMA crew at the Washington Clean-up in April. photo by one of those Penningtons

Lewis and Clark Boathouse – these folks are a fellow non-profit with a mission similar to ours. They bring people to the river, but they are focused on exposing folks to the amazing history we share tied in with this valley. This year, they let us camp in their front yard (“behind the boathouse”) next to the river. An amazing beach with a young riparian willow forest managed by the local Master Naturalists, some great fishing spots and a heirloom vegetable, herb and native plant garden. Behind us, the massive boat house and nature center was the dry dock for three gorgeous, handmade replicas of the fleet the Corps of Discovery took up the Missouri River in 1804. These boats made the same journey in 2004.

Francis Baum – this guy started his own environmental organization of fellow Boeing workers. BEEP – Boeing Employees for Environemental Protection. He travels across the state to help with River Relief events, and this time he took on the dispatch position – scouting the trash on Friday then sending folks out there to pick it up on Saturday morning. He was a little bummed this year that “Talk Like a Pirate Day” landed on the day after the clean-up….

Many other friends and familiar faces joined us on the riverfront that day. Along with over 250 other state-wide volunteers picking up trash, sorting out recyclables, piloting (and fixing) boats, teaching and learning, serving and being served, this group of local folks made this event happen.

Although everyone felt tired at the end of the day, no one felt broken. In fact, after a dinner graciously donated by Trailhead Brewing across the street and gathered around a campfire sharing stories, we all felt a little healed. I’m pretty sure we healed each other, and the river healed us all.

St. Charles Clean-up Results!

2010-09-16T09:55:00.008-06:00

Bishop’s Landing, St. Charles, MO
September 11th, 2010
click here for links to photos and more

photo by Tom Ball

Total Volunteers: 268
MRR Crew: 27
Boats: 11 (4 Missouri River Relief, 3 MO Department of Conservation, 2 U.S. Fish & Wildlife, 2 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
River Miles: 10
River Level: 18.5 feet
Landfill: 2.6 tons
Scrap Metal: 1.4 tons
Recyclables: 1.09 tons
Tires: 107 (1.9 tons)
Total Tonnage: 7 tons!

Stream Teams: 1875, 3176, 211, 500, 1782, 509, 4136, 3668, 3419, 3500, 509 + Francis Howell North & the Crawford Crawdaddies

Volunteer Groups Involved: Lindbergh Highschool Anatomy Class, Francis Howell Highschool Green Community, B-FAB, Alpha Phi Omega, LMI Aerospace, Scout Troops 4334, 975, 1413, 607, Pack 850/Den 3, DHC Global Forwarding, Mid Rivers Ethical Society, Kingdom House Youth Group, River Des Peres Watershed Coalition, Missouri Master Naturalists

Names of River Teams – River Hippies, Trashinators, Troop 975, River Otters, Refrigerators, Trash Busters, Muddy Buddies, Crazy Catfish, The A Team, Bull Sharks, Mud Runners, The Partridges, (Blue, Bleu, Blew), Goon Squad, Ram Rod, Mud Doggers, Weeblos Ponies, Ethica/Waters, Troop 4334, APO, Bad Asses, Rock Stars, Team Unicycle

photo by Tom Ball

Trash Tally!!!!
240 55-gallon Bags of Trash
107 Tires
6 Chunks O’ Styrofoam
½ of a Buoy
12 five-gallon Plastic Buckets
3 five-gallon Metal Buckets
3 55-gallon Metal Drums
3 55-gallon Plastic Barrels
5 Refrigerators
1 Washing Machine
1 Chest Freezer
2 5-gallon Propane Tanks
20+ small Propane Tanks
1 Refrigerator Door
1 Ice Machine
1 Toilet Tank
1 Vacuum Cleaner Hose
1 Baby Bed
333 Yards of Carpet
3 Folding Chairs
2 Gas Cans
1 7-foot Bench
1 Table Top
3 Gas Tanks
2 Mud Flaps
1 Truck Grill
1 Truck Fender (Blue Ford F150)
2 Tail Pipes
1 Axle & Differential
1 Torque Converter
1 Bumper Plate
1 Side Mirror
2 Volley Balls
1 Basket Ball
1 Slolam Ski
100 feet Heavy Wire Cable
1 Heavy Chain
1 Furniture Panel
1 Compressor
1 Refrigerator Shelf
1 Oil Can
1 part of a Deck
1 Fire Extinguisher
1 Ammunition Box
1 Curtain Rod
17 pieces of Rebar
8 pieces of Angle Iron
1 TV Panel
1 42” Flat Screen TV w/ Castors
2 Square Lattice Baskets
1 Deer Head (from a target)
2 Trash Dumpster Lids
1 Landscaping Rim
12 feet of Natural Gas Line
1 Culvert Pipe1
1 MDC “End of Public Use Area” Sign
1 “Caution Wet Floor” Sign
1 Huskers Sign
2 Messages in a Bottle
1 Red Plastic Apple
1 Rubber Ducky – yellow
1 Bocce Ball
2 1-gallon Glass Jugs
2 Enameled Cast Iron Skillet
1 Butcher Knife
1 Dust Mask
1 Hard Hat
1 Naked Baby Doll

Message in a Bottle Found!

2010-09-16T09:28:00.008-06:00

On Sept. 11th, 2010 during Missouri River Relief's St. Charles River Clean-up, we found a message in a bottle while sorting through trash that had already been bagged. A small crew of die-hards had remained after lunch to sort through the muddy mess and recycle as much plastic, glass & aluminum as we could. Some unsuspecting volunteer had simply thrown away this most coveted treasure amongst this river cleaning clan!

photo by Tom Ball

Found around river mile 28, here's what it read:
Cooper's Landing is a fun little river-rat hang-out near Columbia, MO along river mile 170, so this bottle traveled about 142 miles over the course of a year and a half!

We will attempt to contact Micha to see where the rest of the treasure is buried! Arrrgh!

It was a good day I say!

MR340 Race Post-Poned to August 24th

2010-07-23T11:23:00.006-06:00

photo by Steve Schnarr

If you haven't heard the news yet, here is the official word from race organizer Scott Mansker via the MR340 (Rivermiles.com) forum:

After consultation with the United States Coast Guard, Missouri Water Patrol, the National Weather Service, a USGS Hydrologist and numerous veteran paddlers, the decision has been made to postpone the race due to unsafe conditions both current and predicted for the Missouri River 340 race course. This is both a difficult and easy decision. Difficult because of the scope of work and effort put forth by ALL of us involved, including all paddlers and ground crews... and easy because I have zero question in my heart or mind that the river will not be a safe place for an ultra-marathon event next week.

The 5th Annual Missouri River 340 will be held August 24-27th. Mandatory safety meeting and sign in on the evening of the 23rd. Everything scheduled exactly the same, except for the new dates.

For those who are still signed up for the race, but cannot make the new date, you will have the opportunity to sign up for a seat in the 2011 6th Annual event at no charge. Everyone will get an email with instructions on how to do this. You should receive this email by noon Thursday. If you have not, please send an email to either karin@rivermiles.com or scott@rivermiles.com and we will send you the link allowing you to get the voucher. Please do not send your request via the forum. Email will be more efficient. Each member of a team that is seeking a voucher will need to do it independently.

The deadline for deciding if you can do this year's race or next is August 11th. If you have not requested a voucher by then, we will assume you are racing August 24th.

If you are planning to race August 24th with your same team configuration, you need do nothing. Everything is set and all is well. If you need to reconfigure your team in any way, this would need to be done by email. Either to scott@rivermiles.com or karin@rivermiles.com

New paddlers wishing to sign up for the race, now 5 weeks away, may do so on our registration page here:
http://fs10.formsite.com/KevinPayzant/form457183630/index.html
We are still limited to 340 boats. Which I'm sure we'll be well under after the date change.

Thank you for understanding that this decision was not made lightly and that all inconveniences are understood and we empathize. It is not easy for us to reschedule and I know it is not easy for you. But we look forward to a fun, safe event in 5 weeks. Late August is a beautiful time of year on the Missouri and we have every reason to believe it will be the best 340 yet. We hope to see everyone at the safety meeting August 23rd.

Very truly yours,
Scott, Karin and Russ

Race to Dome Quick Links

2010-07-09T14:39:00.005-06:00

Race to the Dome

Hartsburg to Jeff City
July 3, 2010

Here's a few great links from the Race to the Dome:

Race to the Dome Results

Race to the Dome website

Race to the Dome Facebook

Columbia Tribune Article (and slideshow)

Great Blog from Racer Jessica Machetta

Missouri River Relief race page

Race photos

Race blogs

Fast, Fun & Floody

2010-07-09T14:12:00.007-06:00

Race to the Dome

Hartsburg to Jeff City
July 3, 2010

text by Steve Schnarr, photos by Dave "the River Slave" Marner, Diana Dexter and Caanan Cowles

Sometimes you finish an event, look around at all the smiling people and realize: this is the first year of big deal.

That’s how it felt for me at the end of the Race to the Dome. People were glowing, and you could see that this thing could be big.

66 boats went in the water. Amazing for the first year! But ever since the MR340 took off, it’s seemed like the growth of paddling recreation on the Missouri River has not hit its limit.

A great diverse crowd showed up at Hartsburg Landing. Some fancy boats were already in the water when I showed up: some folks training for the 340 had put in upstream earlier and showed up for the race by water. Other trainees were planning on heading down to Hermann after the race finish.

There were aluminum canoes borrowed from Jeff City Parks – some folks didn’t have their own boat and had never been on the river. In my opinion, a race like this is a perfect time for people to get their “riverlegs”. You’ve got safety boats in the water in case something goes wrong. You’ve got other paddlers to help you find the safe, fast water. You’ve got lunch waiting for you at the end.

Because of the high water, racers were separated into heats so there was plenty of room in the eddy at the bottom of the ramp. All race heats were launched without issue (except the sucking mud on the ramp left by the recent flooding). It just made things really complicated for timekeeping!

Several spectacles were on hand as well. Big Muddy Adventures showed up with John Ruskey’s handmade Junebug canoe, taking out a group of folks for a gentle paddle downstream for a donation to River Relief. At the Noren ramp, the MR340 Dragon Boat, carrying 20 paddlers (!) jammed up the ramp for a while taking off. What a sight!

Only a couple of boats spilled. One guy self-rescued right in the middle of the river. Another bunch swamped and lost their paddles. Luckily, we had an extra kayak paddle in our safety boat and they could get on their way.

One of our safety boats was able to take a couple of our most dedicated sponsors, Pat Jones and Jamie Coe, out on the river. What a great time to get out there and see all these folks out enjoying the river.

Jeff City’s own Matt Green and Kevin Schwarz of the “Aquaholics” took men’s tandem kayak and were the overall winners (1 hour 10 minutes!!!!). Our neighbor, Jodi Pffeferkorn and her partner Charlie Lockwood (“Pfefferwood”) were the first back to the ramp, winning the mixed tandem class. They’ve been training for the 340 as of late and are looking good! See them at the 340, too. Past 340 winner Bryan Hopkins (“Lucky 13”) took the men’s solo kayak race by a landslide (mudslide?). Carp Target Grannies from Columbia floated in from upstream and ended up ruling women’s tandem. I’ll post other winners as I get them.

Plus, we had several River Reliefers in the race. Janet Moreland (the first person to sign up for the race – “Easy Rider”) took silver in solo female kayak, followed by Allison Kellenberger (“Mother of Pearl”) in her first race. Melanie Cheney and Liz Doubet took second in their class (“Muddy Bottom Gumbo Gals”). David Lackey ("Water Lily") took third place in men's solo kayak! We were all so proud!

Complete results are posted on the Race to the Dome website.

After we finished up cleaning up after the race, several of us loaded up Big Muddy Mike’s canoe and headed upstream to our high sandbank camp. Music, campfire, veggie packs, lots of swimming, sunset boat ride. That’s the way to celebrate independence!

A really cool guy thought up a really cool race...

2010-07-08T17:58:00.009-06:00

Race to the Dome
Hartsburg to Jeff City, MO
July 3, 2010

Text by Steve Schnarr, photos by Caanan Cowles & Diana Dexter

This was the inaugural year for a really good idea. A 16-mile paddle race ending across the river from the state capital: Jefferson City on Independence Day weekend. Pulling off even such a simple idea is not quite as easy as you’d think. But when you start with a great idea hatched by a tenacious, well-connected dude with gobs of skills – it looks easy!

For me it all started with a phone call. Patrick Lynn from Jefferson City had hoped to paddle in our Flying Carp race, which ended up (perhaps unwisely!) getting cancelled due to high water and drift in the river. But after the cancellation, he rang us up and said he wanted to organize a race for charity from Hartsburg to Jeff City. And he wanted us to be the charity!

We had recently done a clean-up at Noren Access in Jefferson City, and were starting to develop a great set of friends there. One great couple is Andy and Leisha Neidert – who started bringing their boat to clean-ups in the area and diving in. A real couple of river rats, they live on the bluff upstream of Jeff City, overlooking the river. Patrick is friends with Andy too, so Andy agreed to help and it was on.

As the day approached, our friends at MRCN had to cancel their race due to major flooding in Glasgow, and the river looked like it was going to be high all summer. But then it stopped raining. The week before the race, it was becoming clear that we might be able to pull this off. The projection of 2 feet below flood stage held.

Patrick worked this race with dogged dedication. Hopefully next year this thing will grow enough to pay the dude – but he insisted on taking this on as a volunteer this year. He coordinated everything himself, from food for racers to corporate sponsorship; from organizing race classes to staggering heats; from race publicity to making sure there were water bottles. When something didn’t pan out, he didn’t blink – on to plan b.

He started advertising the race months before – the first news story was back in April. He did Twitter, he did Facebook. He got cool stickers made. If we offered half-baked ideas from our experience, he’d run with it and make it happen.

For us at Missouri River Relief, nothing could have been easier than working with Patrick Lynn on this race.

Where Patrick really shined was the day of the race. He worked his butt off all day long, conducting the race start, answering never-ending questions and solving problems on the fly. Watching his persistence as he recalculated times (an admitted history major) it was clear he was finally going to sleep great that night.

Beyond his unbelievable generosity to our organization and cause, his most admirable quality was among the chaos of hundreds of people dragging boats through the Hartsburg lot or waiting for their lunch at Noren, Patrick would answer your questions with a smile and real appreciation.

Oh, and he’s great with a soundbite: “I grew up near the river and didn’t really start getting out and enjoying it until a few years ago,” he said. “It’s a great resource here in Jefferson City and needs to be utilized more.” Bingo…

Patrick, you’re a truly kind soul, and we can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for us and for our mission of connecting people to this amazing river by getting out on her.

But he’s definitely not the only one to thank for making this race happen. The list is actually pretty long:

Sponsors –
The Old Brickhouse Deli – donated and served lunches to the racers.
Central Bank
Centurylink
Husch Blackwell Sanders
Jefferson City Convention & Visitors Bureau

Partners -
Alpine Shop – donated lip balm for racers
Big Muddy Adventures – donated proceeds from a ride in the 22-foot wooden Junebug canoe
Dexter crew – showed up, helped patrol the race and took gobs of great photos.
Jefferson City Parks and Recs – donated canoe and paddle rental.
Joe Wilson – the host with the most
Lafarge-Neidert – graphic design
Lynn Family - registration
Mid-Missouri Amateur Radio Club – Set up stations along the route (some in boats, some biked out the Katy Trail, some on decks of friends over looking the river) and kept all stations in communication.
Missouri American Water – donated gift bags
Neidert family – safety boat – and everything that needed doing
Schnucks – donated gift bags & drinks
St. James Winery – prize wine!
And without a doubt the Missouri River Relief crew solid as a rock!

Siouxland 2010

2010-07-02T13:18:00.005-06:00

Total Volunteers: 80
MRR Crew: 15
Sioux Crew: 16
Boats: 7 (4 Missouri River Relief, 2 Nebraska Game and Parks, 1 Iowa DNR)
River Miles Cleaned: 10
River Level: 19.5 and rising (Sioux City Gage)
Tires: 12

Total Tonnage: 2.4 Tons

Trash Tally!!!!

61 large blue Bags of Trash
12 Tires
1 Mag Wheel Rim

1 Tricycle

2 Baby Walkers
1 kids Bicycle
1 Chunk O’ Styrofoam
2 Coolers
2- five-gallon Plastic Buckets
2- 55-gallon Metal Drums
2- 55-gallon Plastic Barrels
1 TV exterior w/ a VCR Player
1 Range Top
1 Pressurized Water Tank
1 Bedframe
1 flowery upholstered Couch w/ cording
2 metal Folding Chairs
1 Headboard “Doubloon” brand
1 Truck Bedliner
1 Truck Camper Top

2 Gas Tanks
1 Toyota Axle w/ Wheels
2 License Plates
2 Batteries
1 Drive Shaft
1 Windshield Wiper
2 Bumpers
1 Car Grill
2 soggy pieces of Carpet
1 Tarp
3 heavy Wire Coils
2 flats of Corrugated Tin
1 Lantern
1 Step Ladder
1 Hedge Trimmer
1 large plastic Laundry Basket

25 feet of Cable Wire
1 Ammunition Box
1 Crystal Vase
1 Bed Rail
4 Barrel Bands
3 Metal Strips
4 Metal Poles
1 Flag Pole Stand
Over 1,000 lbs of Cable Wire
6ft Blade
5 hunks of assorted Metal
1 Christmas Light Bulb

River Clean-up promo on Keep St. Joe Weird

2010-06-02T12:29:00.007-06:00

Local St. Joe resident Cory Stephens, created this fun video to promote the St. Joseph Missouri River Cleanup on his website keepstjoeweird.com. The clean-up is scheduled for June 26 at the French Bottoms Boat Ramp. Sign-in is at 8:30 a.m. and the clean-up will roll from 9 - noon.

For more info. and to sign-up on online, go to www.riverrelief.org, or simply show up Saturday morning and sign-in at the registration table. We're excited to be returning to this historic river town and hope to see you there!

River Relief Promo by keep st joe weird from Cory Stephens on Vimeo.

The Flood of 2010

2010-05-20T12:30:00.008-06:00

May 14th, 2010
Club Medfly, River mile 170

As the Missouri River crested here in Mid-Missouri last week, several of us self-proclaimed "river rats" went down to our clubhouse to watch the swollen river roll by. She must have been going at least 10 miles an hour, carrying a large load of debris that not only included trees of all sizes, but an assortment of floating trash! The river level was 27.6 and rising.

I couldn't help but start recording a tally of what I was watching float downstream, ultimately destined for the Gulf of Mexico, which already has its fair share of problems with the most devastating oil spill on record, I couldn't help but feel both sad but reinvigorated to expose this local, regional, national, and worldwide problem.

Here's a tally of what we watched float by in one evening:

1 Large Freezer
15 Styrofoam Chunks
7 Basket Balls
4 - 5 gallon Buckets
5 Aerosol spray cans
1 Green Buoy
1 Inflated Inner Tube
1 Large Metal Tank
7 Tires
1 Milk Jug
4 Oil/Detergent Jugs
1 Purple Sharpie
1 Perfume Bottle Lid
1 Deoderant Stick
2 Misc. Balls
1 Prescription Bottle
2 Peanut Butter Jars
2 Coolers
1 Plastic Lime
2 Water Jerry Jugs
1 Metal 5 gallon Bucket
...and countless plastic bottles!

In ten minutes we counted 74 plastic bottles go by, only as far as the eye could see that is. Ten Minutes! 74!

Plastic water & soda bottles are by far the #1 piece of trash we find out there. If more people started carrying their own re-usable drink containers and started drinking from the tap, we would alleviate so much of the pollution that this plastic is causing by getting into our waterways, the ocean, and its wildlife. Plastic bottles are a product of crude oil. Think about the impact we could make if we stopped using them! We have the choice, and it all starts with YOU!

Melanie Cheney
Missouri River Relief

Catfish stuck in a Plastic Bottle, photo by Colby Wrasse of the US Fish & Wildlife Service

a photo of a storm drain that goes directly into the Missouri River after a rain event

River Relief goes to Yankton

2010-05-20T10:45:00.006-06:00

A few notes & thoughts from our recent trip up to Yankton, S.D.
...a clean-up "Away Team" organized by Keep Yankton Beautiful.

by Melanie Cheney

photo by Paul Lepisto

At our rate, the trip from Columbia, MO up to Yankton, S.D. usually requires a 10 hour drive. Hauling a 2 ton, 25-foot plate boat behind you in a driving North wind up in the plains isn't easy. We arrived at the Cottonwoods Campground in Yankton where the temperature had dropped into the 40s, with sustaining winds and bursts up to 40-50 mph. If it wasn't for Soda Popp who had drug his house on wheels behind him all the way from Jeff City, I would have been miserable all night long as the temps dropped down in the 30s and the winds continued to howl!!!

We met up with the KC crew who had arrived a few hours earlier, built a big fire, and discussed a game plan for the clean-up we were working the next morning. Luckily by the time the sun came up, the winds died down, and the sun warmed the 100 volunteers who also showed up bright & early that morning. Apart from the chilly boat ride on the river, it turned out to be a beautiful day!

We used our two plate boats to haul volunteers & trash, & just like that it was over. It was pretty clean up there as this was the 7th annual clean-up on that stretch, and we pretty much just cleaned up after the thoughtless fisherman who enjoy good fishing right below the 1st dam on this beautiful stretch of river. I collected about 1 bag of fishing line & styrofoam bait boxes alone. We ate lunch & headed back to camp.

In the afternoon, the sun shining, & the wind as still as could be, we took a little field trip over the dam to an overlook & trail on the big lake which is really, our river. We didn't walk very far before a little side trail appeared & we followed it to the most unexpected & beautiful beach in the Mid-West I have ever seen! It felt like a scene out of the Goonies or something. Huge chalk bluffs towered over the water, waves lapping at the soft pebbled beach, the sun reflecting into our faces, and we just sat there & soaked it up until our bellies started rumbling. Wishing we could stay for sunset, we headed back for camp.

We had a wonderful evening of camaraderie with our River Relief companions, new & old, we told stories around the campfire, & got a good nights rest before starting the next leg of our adventures.

Highlights from the days ahead included a 3 day & night stay in Ponca State Park (due to continual foul weather) on the Rec River with the Stous', a one day float thru a small stretch of river where I must have seen at least 30 different species of birds, one of which was a scene I'll not forget, Wild Turkey's in their full on courtship spreads trying to lure the females away from the other Toms, and several hikes around the area in search of our favorite Spring mushroom, the Morel. And best of all, the company of old friends cooking together & sitting around a campfire at night was just so nice. This relaxing little "mini" vacation also allowed me to get some good reading done in a wonderful book a friend lent us called "The Whale Warriors", which I highly recommend!

On our way home, we stopped at the Desoto Fish & Wildlife Refuge, an old ox-bow lake that had been cut off from the river with the coolest visitor center I've ever been to. They had excavated an old cargo steam ship and we got to see everything the ship was carrying in it when it went down. It was full of old tools, tonics, clothes, food stuffs, oil lamps, toiletries, you name it! In addition, huge picture windows & viewfinders looked out over the lake. It was still cold & drizzly out, and I only saw one lonely pelican. But it was a great stop on our long trip back to Missouri.

Stories from Washington

2010-05-02T07:26:00.006-06:00

Washington River Festival and Missouri River Clean-up

Rennick Riverfront Park, Washington, MO
April 17, 2010

text by Steve Schnarr, photos by Vicki Richmond, Melanie Cheney, Tom Ball

(for more photos, stories, links etc, see our Washington event webpag e. )

Man, did we have a good time in Washington.

In fact, there was so much going on, most of us only got a glimpse at a few pieces of the whole. Here’s a few stories that happened that people have passed along to me.

Drift Piles and Willow Thickets and Box Dikes
It’s been several years of high water along the Lower Missouri River. Much of the trash along the river has been pushed up high in the floodplain. The Washington reach of the river is really productive agricultural land with little public land. So a lot of the trash volunteers recovered was from piles of driftwood pushed together by flooding eddies.

The river levels had dropped a lot in the previous week, as low as it’s been in months. The low willow thickets that gather trash were actually locked behind exposed rock dikes that had been underwater just a week before. We call these “box dikes” because the rock walls actually box the areas off from our clumsy motorboats. This all meant a lot of work for the volunteers that were bagging up trash and hauling it to where our trash boats could pick them up. Or rolling refrigerators or tires. These were a tough bunch of volunteers!

The Augusta Bottoms Scour Hole
Last time we went to Washington in 2008, a group of Augusta Bottoms residents pointed out some trash in the series of “blew holes” along August Bottoms Rd. Unfortunately, our clean-up that day was cancelled because of a flooding Missouri River and we didn’t have enough volunteers to pull it off.

This time, Scot Heidbrink and Bernie Arnold led a team of Kohl’s employees and locals to tackle the site. Once they started, they found they couldn’t stop. What looked like some recent dumping turned out to be about 25 tires and two trailer-loads of junk illegally dumped along the road.

This was one of several scour holes dug out in the 1993 and 1995 floods. Still popular fishing holes, they are home to migrating flocks of waterfowl and are crammed with turtles. It felt good to get them cleaned out! Hopefully we can come back when the water is really low!

Colter’s Clean-up by Canoe
The Wyman Center contacted us several months ago. Jason Rose, the Wyman Program Manager, was entering the Missouri River 340, a canoe race we are involved in, and checked out our website. He was intrigued and offered the Wyman’s canoe fleet for a clean-up in the area. We chose the Washington clean-up for our trial run.

The group met at the Washington ramp early and headed up to Colter’s Landing, where the Wyman Fleet was waiting. Big Muddy Adventures’ Betsy Tribble and Mike Clark arrived with the Clipper Canoe – a massive 10-person canoe just begging to haul trash. Everyone headed downstream on the Boeff Creek gathering trash as they went. The coolest thing they found wouldn’t fit in a canoe - our trash boat had to pick it up later: a really nice picnic table buried in a sandbank. We took it to our riverside cabin the next day!

The mouth was the first stop, and several trashy spots along the way. Luckily, the Washington Boat Club Commodore Fred Hartbank and a couple of his buddies grabbed lunches and headed up to meet the paddlers for lunch around 1 p.m.. Then the canoe clean-up crew had the energy to finish ‘er off!

River Celebration!
Last time we attempted a clean-up in Washington, Mike Smith volunteered to help coordinate it. Then his good friend, Gloria Attoun Bauermeister offered to organize a river festival in conjunction with the clean-up. That was 2008…the clean-up ended up flooded out, but the festival went on as planned.

This year it was even bigger and better. With music from local river lovers, educational booths on a wide variety of river and nature-related topics, art and good food – it was a true celebration of the river that remains the center of life in Washington.

The World Bird Sanctuary kicked it all off with their popular display of rehabilitated raptors from around the world. The whole festival wrapped up with an old-timey dance, complete with a dance caller. In the meantime, a lot of families got to get involved in hands-on art projects, a bird walk with Bill Davit, and a whole lot of learning about local organizations dedicated to history, restoration, care of our resources and more.

Kohl’s and Washington Middle School
Two of our largest groups were from the Washington Kohl’s store and the Washington Middle School Environmental Club. Because of a great national program through Kohl’s, the two groups teamed up to work both on the river and the Augusta Bottoms site.
The bonus: Kohl’s will be donating $1,500 to the Environmental Club! According to Club faculty sponsor Michael Batsie, the club will use the funds to purchase new recycling bins for the school, as well as t-shirts and native plant training for the environmental club. An absolute win-win for everyone!

Nona
We were pleased that our crew was invited back to Michael and Gloria’s little piece of paradise in the Augusta Bottoms. The former site of a little railroad town called Nona, the old general store is now the studio and gallery for Michael Bauermeister’s amazing wooden sculptures. We set up our kitchen under the awning, camped in the yard around and enjoyed the beautiful spring evening after the clean-up. Many friends from Washington, Augusta and St. Louis joined us for an evening campfire and “pass the feather”, where everyone told a story about how the day went for them.

Many thanks to the many cooks who kept us fed all weekend. It was truly a group effort!

We were kept company all weekend by several barred owls. Josh got this picture of one of them!

Washington Trash Tally!!!

2010-04-24T09:19:00.004-06:00

Washington River Festival and Missouri River Clean-up
Rennick Riverfront Park, Washington, MO
April 17, 2010

* Total Volunteers: 218
* MRR Crew: 36
* Boats: 7 (3 Missouri River Relief, 3 Missouri Department of Conservation, 1 Washington Boat Club) + 10 canoes (8 Wyman Center, 1 Big Muddy Adventures, 1 private)
* River Miles: 15 (10 by MRR boats, 5 by Canoes)
* River Level: 11 ft (Washington gage)
* Landfill Tons: 2.84 tons
* Scrap Metal: 3.9 tons
* Recyclables: .38 tons (750 lbs of plastic recycled into fence posts)
* Tires: 84
* Total Tonnage: 8.42 tons
* Groups Involved: Kohls Store 1098, Washington Middle School Environmental Club, Lindbergh High School Anatomy Class, Wyman Center, Big Muddy Adventures, Washington Boat Club, Sustain Mizzou
* Stream Teams: 1875, 3988, 2300, 3550, 3553, 2793, 3762, the mighty 211, 1857, 1857, 3419, 2991, 4123, 3651
* Names of River Teams: Alta, Awesome Group, Vacuum Cleaners, River Oysters, Teenage Ninja Turtles, Tree Huggers, the Flying Penguins, River Dolphins, Kresse, The First Team, The Geralds, Team Awesome, The River Rats, River Bi***es, The Mushrooms, Big Nasty, The Knights

Trash Tally!
A partial list of items recovered from the Missouri River by volunteers. Our most common items are plastic bottles and bits of styrofoam.
175 large Stream Team bags of trash
84 Tires
7 Refrigerators
1 Washing Machine
1 Large Ice Chest
2 Propane tanks
7 large Chunks o’ Styrofoam (one with a tree growing out of it)
3 Coolers
8 five gallon Plastic Buckets
6 Plastic Tubs
3 five gallon Metal Buckets
6 ½ 55-gallon Metal Drums
1 35-gallon Plastic Barrel
2 Plastic Coffee Pot
4 Boxsprings
1 Couch Frame
1 Bench Seat
4 Metal Chair Frames
4 Plastic Chairs
1 Bed Frame
1 Stove Top in rusted parts
1 6” Plastic Tube
1 Yard Sprayer
1 Light Fixture
1 Porcelain Toilet (in pieces)
1 Car Bumper
1 Car Rim
1 Gas Tank
1 Break Rotor
3 pieces of Carpet
1 Road Cone
1 Toy Slide
1 Hula Hoop
1 Toy Stroller
1 Knee Board
4 sheets of Metal
4 Fence Posts
4” Cast Iron Pipe
2 ft Rail Road Truck
1 syrup coke tank
2 TVs
1 Bug Zapper
1 Computer Monitor
2 Stereos
2 Tarps
2 Wire Rolls
1 large Stop Sign on post
1 Picnic Table
1 Glass Chandelier
1 large antique Light Bulb in a hexagon shape
1 Electric Fireplace
1 Plastic Toy Horse
1 small bag of Poo
1 glass Clorox Bottle

So...where does all that trash go after you pick it up from the river?

2010-04-23T11:25:00.005-06:00

Washington River Festival & Missouri River Clean-up
Rennick Riverfront Park, Washington, MO,
April 17, 2010

text by Steve Schnarr, photos by Vicki Richmond & Tom Ball

"So...where does all that trash go after you pick it up from the river?"

I would say that's about the fourth most common question that gets asked from most folks curious about river clean-ups. Good reason, too! An amazing amount of junk gets recovered from the river during these clean-ups and most people would like to know it' getting put to good use. It's tough, but we try to recycle as much as we can...and hope to keep getting better.

My answer to the question usually starts with "Well, that depends on the community we're working in..." And each disposal solution usually has its own story. Here's some from the Washington Clean-up...

River Trash to Art
In three years, volunteers have removed over 40 tons of junk from a very old dump on the Osage River near the Mari-Osa ramp. We’ve bemoaned the fact that all this interesting stuff just got scrapped, except the treasures volunteers took home with them. This year, the Washington River Festival gave us a chance to do something with it.

A month ago, I delivered a couple big trash cans full of select Mari-Osa trash (culled by Ruthie Moccia) to Joey Los, a metal sculptor from Hermann that is co-owner of Kunstlerhaus gallery. Joey has been working with the Greenway Network’s Stream Trash to Art program, donating her time and work to creating beautiful and interesting sculptures from trash found on stream clean-ups. She, and several other artists offered to set up shop at the festival with welding equipment to make art from our Mari-Osa trash, and anything interesting that came off the river during our Washington clean-up.

Larry Pogue, whose impressive gallery is located on Front St just across the train-tracks from the Washington boat ramp, cranked out unbelievable standing sculptures of fish and flowers. Patrick McCarty worked with the Waggoner boys from Greenway Network to make creations using an old-style blacksmith oven.

Then, they donated all of these works to an auction raising money to help pay for the clean-up. Jean Ponzi from KDHX 88.1 was the auctioneer, and with the generous bids of festival goers, everyone raised over $1,200 for Missouri River Relief! Thanks to all of you for your creativity, generosity and hard work!

River Trash to Timber
The most common material we find on clean-ups is plastic. Plastic bottles, coolers, oil and antifreeze jugs, toys, plant pots, playground equipment, balls. Plastic generally floats pretty well, moves easily down streams during high water and gets deposited in drifts along the floodplain of the Missouri River.

River-ravaged plastic is often either full of mud and sand or coated in it. Most recyclers don’t want to deal with it. The sediment dulls their grinding blades, and contaminates the final product. It would be cool if we had our own grinder and some kind of washing system (using biodegradable cleaners and using little water), but we don’t. So if a recycler is willing to take the stuff, they usually have to re-sort the load to get only the plastic they want.

So far, we’ve worked with Civic Recycling in mid-Missouri and Coca-Cola Enterprises in Kansas City to recycle river plastic. Our friend Billy Froeschner, from Sustain Mizzou, told us about his friend, Gary Ryan, who owns Ryan Enterprises and turns a variety of plastics into fence posts and landscape timbers. Billy offered to bring his gooseneck horse trailer to Washington to haul away the plastic, and he even set up the recycling station.

The frantic sorting scene drew a lot of spectators from the River Festival – and some looks of amazement at what was actually in those blue bags coming off the river. Well, all that hard work recovered an estimated 750 pound of plastic - half of that horse trailer full!

Heavy Lifting
Just getting the trash off the boats and where it needs to be is a big task, best handled by a front-end loader or skid steer. Randy Thiemann from the Washington Parks and Rec. Dept. gave his Saturday up to hauling trash from the boats to the recycling station or the metal truck. He rolled up just as the first mud-filled refrigerator came up in a boat and we were scratching our heads on where to put it. Right up to the end, where he blew a hydraulic line on the second to last boat load of junk, he worked that ramp hard. The Parks Dept. also paid for the landfill dumpster supplied by Beck Disposal from St. Louis.

Tires are always the problem…
We had trouble finding someone to haul tires to a recycler for this event. Finally, the week before the event, our crewmember Bernie Arnold from Arnold, MO, offered to do the hauling for us with his big, walled trailer. He bought the trailer to help get rid of the massive numbers of tires that Stream Team 211 finds on the Meremec River, and here he was jumping out of his watershed to help us out in a pinch. The 85 tires recovered went to Tire Shredders Unlimited in High Ridge, MO, which creates a rubber “crumb” that is used in playgrounds, horse arenas and as an additive to coal to burn hotter and cleaner creating electricity.

Scrap Metal
This stuff is actually worth money! Sometimes, we make quite a lot of cash from the scrap metal. Other times, it’s much easier to let a local scrapper to pull up a trailer or dump truck and let them take it away. This time, Franklin Co. Recycling brought a dump truck, and we filled it to the brim - 3.9 tons! There’s a lot usable metal you can get from 15 miles of river!

Foxes in boxes

2010-04-22T14:37:00.004-06:00

It’s smarter to partner!

text and photos by Vicki Richmond

Missouri River Relief depends on partners to make our program run. Corporations, other not-for-profits, federal and state agencies provide us with the additional tools, time, effort and funding that keep us on the river removing trash from an 811 mile stretch of river cutting through 5 states.

It isn’t a surprise when we are asked to do our part, and help our partners in our turn.

I received a call from Deb, a wildlife rehabilitator at Lakeside Nature Center in Kansas City's Swope Park. I, too, am a Certified Wildlife Rehabilitator, and have spent countless hours with a baby bottle or syringe and a young native Missouri mammal. Deb knew she could count on me to partner in a unique way!

“Hey, Vic! We’ve got a fox kit, who needs a ride to St. Louis. I know you are headed east this weekend, do you think you could give him a ride? Nancy and Angel of Wildlife Rehabilitation, Inc. in High Ridge have a sister for him and we’re transferring him. You game?”

YOU BET!

In addition to my tent and backpack, a pet taxi was loaded into Butch the truck. Bill, my traveling buddy for the weekend was eager to share his half of the back seat to accommodate the carrier and it’s fuzzy occupant. We made plans to meet Deb at the Bates City exit to begin the little guy’s travels.

We called Nancy and Angel just east of Jeff City with an ETA. We’d meet at the Warrenton exit to hand the fox over to this motivated team.

A quick call was made to Steve in camp telling him that we would be late for the crew meeting. The fox’s transport was about a half hour behind. It was simply the best reason that I’ve ever had to be late for a meeting!

The transfer went without a hitch. A carefully gloved hand gently cradled the fox kit and placed him into Angel’s waiting carrier. A blanket was placed over his fuzzy head to keep him warm and provide him with a hiding spot.

As of this writing, the fox is happy with another of his kind, a female who outweighs him by only 4 ounces. We will keep a careful eye on his progress, and know that he will soon be where he needs to be- ranging the fields near St. Louis living the life of a wild fox.

Garden Gate kids gettin' down & dirty on the River!!!

2010-04-21T14:01:00.007-06:00

Educational River Trip and Clean-up
with Garden Gate School
Katfish Katies, Huntsdale MO
April 20th, 2010

Total Volunteers (students & parents): 22
MRR Captains & Crew: 4
Boats: 2
River Miles: 3
River Level: 12.7 ft
Landfill Tons: .29 tons
Tires: .045 tons
Total Tonnage: .3 Tons or 600 lbs of Trash!

Yesterday the Garden Gate School students & parents joined Missouri River Relief for an educational boat ride on the river and a river clean-up! A few weeks back, our Program Manager Steve Schnarr was able to go to their school and give a fun presentation on what our organization does, and what they could expect to see on their river trip in the weeks ahead.

It was a perfect & calm Spring day! The morning started out pretty cool but clear, by 10:30 a.m. the sun was blazing and the layers started peeling off as we life jacketed up the kids and prepared a short discussion & safety talk about the river.

Next we loaded up the boats and set off upstream of the Katfish Katies boat ramp. Not long after motoring up stream, boat capatin Jeff Barrow pointed up to a large dead tree, it wasn't hard to see what he was trying to show us, sitting regal in near his nest was brother eagle, who bravely did not budge as we slowed for a closer look.

Moving on we came upon a boat of our National Fish & Wildlife Service friends doing Pallid Sturgeon sampling. We were able to watch them pull their lines in for a closer look at these ancient fish that still inhabit this great muddy river.

As our boat headed upriver to look at the petroglyphs left by the Indians many years ago & the spring running out beneath the great Manitou Bluffs, our second boat got waived closer by the fish & wildlife guys who apparently gave a wonderful presentation on their river studies and were able to show the kids a few of the large fish they caught that morning for an even closer up front view.

Well it didn't take long before everyone started getting hungry. So we motored back downstream to the little island just across from Katfish Katies we like to call Airplane Island. The shoes came flying off & a warm sunny picnic lunch was devoured on this gorgeous little sand bar. Afterwards, the kids got to wander around the little island, dipping there toes in the water, building sand castles, finding bugs & trash, & doing their typical kids in nature things. It was fun to watch.

After a bit though, the kids all wanted to get wet & go swimming, so we rounded them up & headed just across the river to a young willow thicket that we knew always gets trapped with tons of trash! We spent maybe an hour gettin' down & dirty with the Garden Gate kids & made a pretty good haul!

Trash Tally!!!!

10 large blue Stream Team bags filled with mostly plastic bottles - soda bottles, anti-freeze jugs, motor oil bottles etc.
6 small mesh Stream Team bags
3 Tires
1 blue 55 gallon Plastic Barrel
1 30-gallon brown Plastic Tub
1 very large Tent that had to be dug out of the mud
an assortment of Balls – basketballs, baseballs, tennis balls, golf balls footballs, etc.
at least 3 Six-Pack Rings (that I personally picked up, there may have been more!!)
1 5-gallon plastic Paint Bucket
1 5-gallon metal Varnish Can
1 Light Bulb
1 long florescent Light Tube
1 plastic Milk Crate
1 plastic Plant Tray
1 dead Turtle

photos & text by Melanie Cheney

A huge thanks to a really fun, good natured, and inquisitive group of students & parents yesterday, we had a blast showing them our beloved river, and introducing them to what is likely to be many new river adventures ahead!

To see more photos about this fun river outing, check out our Flickr Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8478409@N03/sets/72157623780900515/