Hartsburg Results!

Hartsburg Missouri River Clean-up

MDC Public Boat Access, Hartsburg, MO

October 19th, 2013

Total Volunteers: 194 

MRR Crew:  32 

Boats:  10  (5 Missouri River Relief, 1 MDC, 2 DNR 1 MU Coop, 1 Private) 

River Miles:  9 miles (Missouri River miles 156 - 165) 

River Level: 5.4 ft on the Jefferson City gage 

Tires: 30 Tires (approx. .5 tons) 

Landfill Tonnage:  1.24 tons 

Recycling Tonnage: approximately .6 tons 

Scrap Metal:  .6 tons 

Total Tonnage:  2.9 Tons!

Groups and Agencies Involved:  Missouri River Relief, Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources, Missouri Dept. of Conservation, University of MO Coop Unit,  William Woods University - Project 123, Lincoln University - MANRRS, Fema Corps S4, Fema Corps B1, UMKC – SEC, Battle High - Volleyball Girls, Hickman High School - Biology Club, Boys and Girls Club of Jefferson City, Missouri Stream Team's –  211, 1875, 2504, 3419, 3802,, Rock Bridge High School – SEC, MO Master Naturalists, Lincoln University – Wildlife Society, True/False set-up crew

Names of River Teams:  Stream Team 3802, Resource Recovery, Sweet Pickles, River Dykes, Giant Purple Banana Eaters, Trash F@#$%$, Lincoln Corps, Five Star, BajaTisa, MANRRS, Kewps, Team Bajsyl, Turnups, Fantastic Princesses, Team Tiger, Awesome Varsity Squad, Un-Electronics, Alfredo, Raven Claw, Hickman Biology Club

Trash Tally!!!!

76 Bags of Trash

39 Bags of Recyclables

30 Tires

4 – 5-gal. Plastic Buckets

1 – 5-gal. Metal Drum

2 – 55 gal. Metal Drums

4 – 55 gal. Plastic Barrels

1 – 55 gal. Plastic Barrel Lid

4 – Large Plastic Jugs

2 – Refrigerator Doors

3 – Chest Freezers

2 – Compressors

4 Propane Tanks

1 Large Propane Tank with regulator

1 Plastic Shower Base

1 Toilet Base

2 Plastic Milk Crates

1 TV

2 partial Bed Frames

1 Folding Chair

1 Plastic Trash Can Lid

1 Plastic Table

1 Car Bumper 

1 Muffler

1 huge Mud Flap (18-wheeler)

6 ft of Carpet

8 ft of Plastic Pipe

1 3x3 ft Wall with Insulation

1 Full, sealed bottle of Virex AIDS medication (valued at $400)

2 Paint Cans

6ft of Rebar

1 Plastic cup from Jolly Roger's in Sioux City, IA

1 Concrete Boot Anchor

1 Lady Speed Stick Deoderant

1 fully functioning Sharpie permanent marker

2 Inner Tubes

1 ½” Tubing

1” Cable

4x16 ft of Sheet Metal

1 Window Weight

5 pieces of Scrap Iron

33 Balls

4 Flip Flops

2 Beverage Mugs 

1 Car Mirror

1 Spot Light

1 small Propane Bottle

1 Electric Conduit Box

1 Halloween cookie tin

1 Rusty Skillet

1 Hockey Puck

Sasquatch’s Toe Spreader

2 Fan Blades

2 Little Coolers

2 Hearts

2 Metal Hooks

1 Sledding Suit

1 K-State Can Coozie

½ Fishing Pole

1 Rocket Launcher

1 Septic Pump

1 Easter Egg

1 Sippy Cup 

1 Red Light

1 Brake Pad

1 concrete Boot

1 Fancy Baby Bottle w/ nipple

1 Giant Fork

1 Toy Tank

1 Tiny Trashcan

1 Sexy Underpants 

1 Brake Light

Fireworks Detritus  

1 Lantern   
1 Bike Pedal
1 Batters Helmet

1 Big Glass Jug

1 Minnow Net

1 Typewriter Feed

1 Rubber Frog

1 full container of Chicken Livers

1 Plastic Pumpkin

1 Hypodermic Needle 

1 Fishing Hat

1 Bobber

1 External Thumbdrive

1 plastic Koala

To read more about the clean-up and view results, check out our 2013 Hartsburg Clean-up webpage.

Race to Dome Quick Links

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

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...

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!

River Relief partners with Wal-Mart

by Melanie Cheney

As one of the organizers for our annual Missouri River clean-up here in Mid-Missouri, it was part of my job to do as much outreach as possible in the community. That meant reaching out to area business’ for support either by financial means, in-kind donations, or volunteer recruitment. I am always surprised when folks get excited and energized about a clean-up in their area, enthusiastically lending their support by any means necessary. Wal-Mart did just that and more!

I started making phone calls to ask Wal-Mart about their community support programs, though it took several times, I finally got the right person on the phone. One of the managers had gotten my message, checked out our website, and had all hands on deck, though he was obviously a very busy guy. Shane Jordan immediately offered to help River Relief apply for a $1,000 grant and was rounding up volunteers from all of the Columbia stores, including Sam’s Club to participate in this year’s cleanup. He was down right excited about coming down to the river with his co-workers. In addition, the week before the clean-up he asked all of his soda vendors for donations of beverages to bring to the clean-up for lunch, and he did just that.

On a beautiful spring day in Hartsburg, a small handful of Wal-Mart volunteers made their way down to the Missouri River, got out on our boats, and cleaned up the banks of the river. They stayed for lunch, and then went out again, even though most of the volunteers generally go home after lunch. After a hard day’s work, Americorps Stream Team Assistant Chuelo Arias, Missouri River Relief Program Manager Steve Schnarr, and myself (also a Stream Team Assistant) all individually encouraged the Wal-Mart Green Team to start a Stream Team of their own. When I called Shane back a few weeks later, he had done just that! They were starting a stream team to clean the Hinkson Creek which flows directly behind their store, and has been on Missouri’s impaired water ways list for sometime. I couldn’t have been happier. As if that weren’t enough, he told me they were waiting on the $1,000 giant sized check to arrive to present to us at a special reception at Wal-Mart. Wow!

Thanks to all the enthusiastic volunteers & coordinators like Shane Jordan & the Wal-Mart Green Team, I think Missouri River Relief and the Stream Team Program have made a partner for life!



The Hartsburg clean-up was possible because of the additional financial support of Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources and Mid-Missouri Solid Waste Management District, both long-time supporters. A big thanks to our other local sponsors, Lakota Coffee who donated fresh coffee grounds & supplies to our crew, Panera Bread Company who kept us fed with bagels and cream cheese, Veolia Environmental Service who supplied the roll-off containers for landfill trash, and Civic Recycling who are also a life long partner is taking our muddy recyclables for free. There are many many more sponsors who support River Relief’s mission to introduce good stewards to our beloved Big Muddy, for more information, please visit our website at www.riverrelief.org and check out our other blog’s too!

Thanks to our Hartsburg Sponsors and Partners

Hartsburg Missouri River Clean-up
April 26, 2008
MDC Hartsburg Public River Access

These clean-ups are impossible without the financial support of our generous sponsors and the hard work and in-kind donations of our partners.

A big, muddy thanks to all the volunteers that helped and to our sponsors and partners!!!! Here's the list....

Thanks and Praises!!!

Hartsburg Clean-up Financial Sponsors

Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Mid-Missouri Solid Waste Mgmt. Dist.
Wal-Mart

Hartsburg Clean-up Partners
Advantage Metals Recycling - they hauled off our scrap metal
Americorps
Civic Recycling - for handling our river ravaged recyclables
Dotty’s Cafe - for delivering boat driver lunches to the ramp!
Friends of Big Muddy
Jim’s Tire Salvage - for tirelessly dealing with all our muddy tires!
Lakota Coffee - thanks for the java!
Missouri Department of Conservation - three boats, a Bobcat, new gravel on the parking lot & organizational support!
Missouri River Communities Network
Missouri Stream Team - for bags, gloves & publicity!
Panera Bread - thanks for the bagels & cream cheese!
Pizza Hut - Ashland - delivering our pizza lunch to the ramp!
RiverView Traders - for letting us camp in their beautiful park!
Southern Boone Fire Protection District - for bringing two safety boats!
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service - two boats & organizational support!
Veolia Environmental Services - donating landfill dumpsters
Wilton Boat Club - for letting us park our boats & trailers there!
WoodWoman - for her serene spirit and generosity!

More Mid-Missouri Sponsors
It takes a lot of support to make these props turn! These local folks have sponsored our organization through continuous donations and grants. Thanks!
Ameren UE
Anheuser-Busch
Bass Pro Shop
Boone Electric Community Trust
Jan Weaver
Joe Engeln
Missouri Department of Conservation
Missouri River 340
Pat Jones
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

high water adventure

Hartsburg Missouri River Clean-up
April 26, 2008
MDC Hartsburg Public River Access

text by Steve Schnarr
photos by Dory Colbert, Melanie Cheney and Lindsay Tempinson

As the Hartsburg clean-up approached and heavy rains fell locally and upstream, the calls and e-mails started to roll in. Some folks suggested we should call off the clean-up; river levels were just going to be too high. Others just called to see what we planned on doing – isn’t it flooding down there? I got on KOMU to reassure people that, even if the river was too high, we’d be cleaning up anyway. There was plenty of river road to pick up!

Watching the river level predictions closely, it seemed as though the crest would be Saturday, and that it would be sufficiently below flood stage to still be safe. But what most people don’t realize is that the main danger issue with high water is drift in the river. We wouldn’t know how that would be until the morning of the clean-up.

I called my buddy Jeff Barrow, veteren river clean-up coordinator (he was in Kentucky on a different river - the Ohio). After hearing my babbling and worrying his answer was simple. "We just roll with it. That's what we do."

Racin' Dave pilots volunteers safely through the driftwood - photo by Dory Colbert

As things turned out, there was some drift in the river, but the channel was mainly clear and there was plenty of safe boating to be had. The clean-up was on! Because most of the banks were underwater (and most of the dumpsites we’d planned to clean-up), crews mostly worked the forested areas above the banks, especially in Marion Bottoms Conservation Area and the Conservation Area surrounding the ramp. Which made for plenty of great chances to find morel mushrooms.

These folks had a tough time getting this bedspring out. photo by Dory Colbert
But as you can see below, it was a success! Jen Courtney pilots the load of junk back to the ramp.
photo by Melanie Cheney.

By the time folks returned to the ramp for lunch (pizza delivered to the ramp by Pizza Hut with sandwiches for the boat drivers delivered by Dotty’s Café in Hartsburg), they were exhausted from hauling trash through the woods and digging out tires, box springs and appliances. But smiles abounded.

So did morel mushrooms. Many folks came back with handfuls or bagfuls of the tasty, ephemeral spring treats. Our ramp dispatch, Melanie Cheney, kept a bag for morels on the ramp and those that didn’t have enough to take home (or that were feeling absurdly generous) added theirs to the stash. That night our camp chef Rusty Baker fried them up for our crew, along with fresh paddlefish filets donated by our newest clean-up addict, Jerry Gabel.

Check out Deanna Stoppler's cool blog for stories about their mushroom finds.

The Ashland Girl Scouts, Troop 296, joined several other families and individuals to clean-up the area around the ramp parking lot as well as two miles of the river road. The Christensen family from Jefferson City spent all morning hauling massive bags of trash from the woods near the parking lot.

Our local favorite, “Naked” Dave Bandy, played music for us during lunch and beyond, being joined by Paul Grace, Dyno Penny, Dave Dearnley and Mark Risch. Even MDC bobcat operator Charlie Nelson, who's been coming to cleanups from the beginning, grabbed a six-string for a few songs.

We had lots of local folks show up (161 volunteers in all, plus a few dogs), not to mention folks from as far away as St. Louis, Kansas City, Joplin and Reno, Nevada! Weather was fantastic, and the trash haul was impressive. Thanks to Civic Recycling and the hard work of a rotating crew of volunteers, we were able to sort out the river trash and recycle the plastic and aluminum. Scrap metal got hauled off by Advantage Recycling and Jim’s Tire Salvage hauled off the 78 tires. Veolia had to make two trips to get all of the rest of the trash, which overflowed the dumpster they brought for us to fill.

Check out more photos from the day below in the next blog entry.

Rotating teams sorted recyclables all afternoon. photo by Dory Colbert

As exhaustion set in, our crews washed the mud out of our boats in the river and we packed up the last of our gear. Our crew, a group of diehard river cleaners that is the backbone of Missouri River Relief, were fortunate to camp down the road at the beautiful Katy Trail-side park maintained by Robert and Maggie “WoodWoman” Riesenmey, the fascinating owners of RiverView Traders in “downtown” Wilton on the River Road. You should really check out their great store, a mix of art, woodworking and herbs done by Maggie and Robert as well as pieces by other local artists.

Naked Dave moved his wonderful music down to the camp, and kept the vibes high with his new band, the “Crazy Fish” – a rotating mixture of folks from other bands that all enjoy playing down at Cooper’s Landing, just down the road. As Rusty Baker and Jeannie Kuntz fixed up a fabulous dinner of pasta and fried spoonbill and morels, we enjoyed the sunset, a crackling fire, and some fantastic music.

Jim Hellman, Donnie Lee Romine, "Dobro" Patty Farrar, Dave Dearnley and Dyno Penny keep the camp rocking after the clean-up. photo by Melanie Cheney

Hartsburg Trash Tally!!!

Hartsburg Missouri River Clean-up

April 26, 2008
MDC Hartsburg Public River Access
photos by Dory Colbert & Lindsay Tempinson

Total Volunteers: 161
MRR Crew: 31
Boats: 11 [2 US Fish & Wildlife; 3 MO Dept. of Conservation; 4 MO River Relief; 2 Southern Boone County FD (safety)]
Rivermiles: 12 (155-167), plus 2 road miles
Scrap Tons: .77 tons
Landfill Tons: (still awaiting results...)
Tires: 78
River level: 18.7 feet (Boonville gage)
Names of River Teams: “The Mudpuppies, Hang Tite, FFF, Eagles, Mutts, the Sturgeons, Oh Shoot!, Wal-Mart River Rats, Redbudders, the Copperheads, the Nameless, the Morels, The Last One”

Trash Tally!!!
Note – because each bag of trash was sorted for recyclables at this clean-up, the list is much more detailed and interesting than many others! Still, this is by no means everything that came in...
197 Large Bags of Trash (at very least)
3 refrigerators
1 washing machine
1 hot water heater
1 message in a bottle (from May 2007, Boonville Bridge)
1 plastic bottle with $5 bill sealed inside
6 refrigerator doors
1 large propane tank
15 campstove propane tanks
4 gas tanks
1 car gas tank
2 boxsprings
11 large chunks of dock Styrofoam
7 coolers
6 five-gallon plastic buckets
3 large plastic planters
2 55-gallon metal drums
2 55-gallon plastic barrels
1 red Coast Guard buoy
1 pair of long johns
1 child’s car seat
2 Christmas light bulbs
Too many cans of Skoal to count
11 fishing bobbers
1 plastic green pepper
2 water bottles held together with shoestring
1 plastic boat propeller
3 tennis shoes
Too many prescription medicine bottles to count
1 plastic bowling pin
1 plastic bowling ball
11 baseballs/softballs (including one Atlanta Braves souvenir soft baseball)
8 basketballs
14 tennis balls
2 soccer balls
7 light bulbs
1 street hocky puck
5 footballs
5 golf balls (a ridiculous underestimate)
More than 16 random kid’s balls (including 1 Winnie-the-Pooh ball)
1 plastic dinosaur tail
1 Jar-Jar (Star Wars) frisbee
1 bike helmet
1 can Milwalkee’s Best Light (full)
1 can Busch Light (full)
1 ice cube tray
1 doll head
1 garbage can lid
1 safety helmet
1 wheelbarrel handle
1 booster seat
1 minnow trap
1 diaper
1 easter egg
1 Air Slice Frisbee
1 pink bike seat
1 plastic cheese slice
1 coozie cupholder
4 flip flop sandals
1 crate
1 oil filter
1 Northern Cheyenne Nation Boys & Girls Club water bottle
1 three-wheeler bike tire
1 cat litter box
1 fire extinguisher
1 stuffed dog
1 toy metal Jeep front
1 TV transistor
One set of New Testament audio cassettes
1 jar of electronic parts
3 Big Wheel trikes
1 toilet bowl float
1 tool case full of mud
1 orange plastic 1975 Ford Pinto
One foam letter “K” (note – on each mid-Missouri clean-up for the past three years we’ve been finding these foam alphabet letters, sometimes the letters themselves, sometimes the piece of foam they were punched out of….did somebody lose a daycare center upstream somewhere?)

Hartsburg photos & more...

Hartsburg Missouri River Clean-up

April 26, 2008
MDC Hartsburg Public River Access

Quote exchange of the day - Alia Koehn-Franz, age 10: “This was the best day of my life!”
Jeff Barrow: “What made it the best day of your life?”
Alia: “I got to go out on a boat in the river!”

These moments are what we’re after on these clean-ups. Just to get out on the big river can be a transformative experience for many people, especially children. After having driven over the Big Muddy on bridges, for many folks these clean-ups are their first time to actually get out on the river. After dodging driftwood in a big boat, climbing up muddy banks and picking up bags full of trash, getting splashed by a silver carp and possibly finding a morel mushroom in the process, they’ll never look at the river the same way again.

After filling bags of trash with plastic and glass bottles, perhaps finding a trash treasure along the way, they’ll never look at their waste stream in the same way either. And at the end of the day, we’ve cleaned up the river we love.


It’s our belief that real change happens when people get out in nature and do stuff. Act and work to make our rivers, which we demand so much from, a better place.

To check out another participant’s take on the event, check out the great blog by marathon racer Deanna Stoppler from Englewood, MO.

And here's some more great photos taken by our crew....

right: Chuelo Arias, an Americorps Stream Team Assistant from Missouri River Communities Network, gets ready to scour the woods for trash. Photo by Dory Colbert.

left: A volunteer wrestles a tire innertube from the mud.
Photo by Dory Colbert.

Melanie Cheney takes a break from ramp dispatch to net "floaters" from the high river.
photo by Lindsay Tempinson.

WalMart employees from the Conley Road store brought coolers full of ice, water and soda for lunch.
Here, Jeff Barrow is pushing them off as Tim Nigh takes them out for an after lunch trash get.
Photo by Melanie Cheney.

Here's how the whole trash sorting scene went. First, bags of unsorted trash are offloaded from boats into MDC Bobcat driver Charlie Nelson's bucket.

Charlie dumps all the bags at the sorting station. photo by Dory Colbert.

Crews dump out the contents of the bags on a big tarp and get to sorting. Dogs look on in bewilderment.
photo by Dory Colbert.

It's a crazy fast-paced scene, but recyclables are sorted out from everything else. The "Tally Ho", a rotating job, keeps track of interesting objects found amongst all the junk.
Photo by Dory Colbert.

Right: Jeanie Kuntz dumps a bucket of plastic bottles in the recycling bin donated by Civic Recycling. Plastic bottles are probably the most common trash found on the Missouri River, floating in from countless tributaries and storm drains. Both the plastic bin and the landfill dumpster were filled to overflowing by the end of the day.
Photo by Lindsay Tempinson.

All in all, it was a lot of hard work, a ton of fun, and a great day for families and for the river!
photo by Lindsay Tempinson.