Kansas City Missouri River Clean-up Results 2012

Kansas City Missouri River Clean-up

Kaw Point Park, Kansas City, KS

October 20^th, 2012

Total Volunteers:  303

MRR Crew:  44

Boats:   12  (5 Missouri River Relief, 4 MDC, 1 EPA, 1 Burns & Mac, 1 Rivermiles)

River Miles:  13  (Missouri Rivermiles 373-362, 2 on the Kaw)

River Level: 10.4 ft on the Kansas City gage

Tires: 76 Tires (1.4 tons)

Landfill Tonnage:  5 tons

Scrap Metal:  6.5 tons

Total Tonnage:  12.9 Tons!

Groups & Agencies Involved:  

The Missouri River Relief Crew, Rockhurst University, Missouri Dept. of Conservation, University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC), Park University, Oakwood Manor Elementary, Crossroads Church, Missouri Stream Team, Kaw Point Park, Kansas City Geocachers, Missouri Master Naturalists, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, SEA LIFE Kansas City, Captain Catfish, Student Environmental Coalition (SEC), Louis Berger Group, Cargill, Singles Available for Community Service (SACS), Healthy Rivers Partnership, Burns & McDonnell, Unilever, North Central Neighbors, Ozark Wilderness Waterways Club (OWWC), Advantage Metals Recycling, Cub Scouts Pack 3385, Green Club, Briarcliff Chapel, Shawnee Mission Northwest Highschool (SMNW)

Names of River Teams:  Jumping Carp, Banana Tacos, Red Backs, Smithe Patrol, Sleepy Wimbats, Trash Ninjas, Nautical Salmons, KC GeoCachers, Outstanding Owls, Trash Talkers, The Gappers, Dry Muskateers, Fearless Chickens, Screeching Owls, Oakie, Group Fourteen, Mark Twain, Sharks, Bob Supertrash, Team Solid, Man Up, Getters, Killswitch Engage, Blue Catfish, Cleaning K, The Polywogs, Happy Campers

Trash Tally!!!!

421 Bags of Trash

76 Tires (5 huge ones)

3 Hunks O’ Tire Tread

1 Inner Tube

30 Chunks O’ Styrofoam

7 Coolers

17 ½ - 5-gal. Plastic Buckets

1 – 5 gal. Plastic Bucket with Poison

3 – 55 gal. Metal Drums

2 ½ - 55 gal. Plastic Barrels

1 – 10 gal. Water Jug

1 – 40 gal. Metal Drum

1 – 5 gal. Jug of Insecticide

1 – 7 gal. Metal Bucket

2 Refrigerators (1 mini fridge)

2 Bicycles (1 red, 1 blue)

3 Bicycle Tires and 1 Wheel

1 Cart on Wheels

2 Garden Hoses

1 Lawn Mower

4 Orange Traffic Cones

1 Shopping Cart

2 Mattresses

4 Bed Springs

6 Chairs

1 Cushion

1 Bathroom Sink

1 Venetian Blinds

1 Folding Table

1 Trash Can Lid

3 ft. of PVC Pipe

1 – 30 gal. Plastic Tub

Pornography

1 Bag of Syringes – unused

3 Baseball Hats

1 Football Flag

20+ Balls (Soccer, Basket Ball, Tennis)

1 Dress Jacket

1 Fire Hose – blue plastic

4 Bags O’ Scrap Metal

1 Gear Shift

1 License Plate

6 Hub Caps

1 Truck Liner

1 Car Bumper

1 Motor Wheel

2 Car Grills

6 Wheel Rims

5 Exhaust Pipes

1 Pump

3 Gas Tanks

1 Steering Wheel

2 Horse Shoes

1 – 4” shaft Motor

5 pieces of Steel Beam

1 steel Belt

2 pieces of Electrical Conduit

20 pieces of Railing

65 large pieces of Iron

1 metal Gas Can

Barbed Wire

9 Grills & Grates

3 – 12” metal Pipes

1 Wire Basket

1 RR Bridge Catwalk

17 steel Rods

1 4x4 Post

1 6x8 Metal Sheet

49 pieces of Rebar

30 iron Machine Parts

Refrigerator Coils

3 Fence Posts

1 Window Screen

1 Metal Case

59 pieces of Tow Boat remains

1 Fire Extinguisher

1 TV

6’ of Roofing Shingles

2 pieces of Vinyl Sidinsg

3 heavy pieces of Rubber Roofing/Flooring

14 wooden Boards with nails

2 wooden Box Frames

1 6x6 piece of Plywood

4 pieces of Flooring

2 pieces of Carpet

1 cubicle Divider

8 Vinyl Strips

1 Blanket

2 Tarps

1 giant Man Purse (full)

1 Bamboo Shade

2 Patio Umbrellas

5 Hunks O’ Corrugated Plastic

1 melted heavy Chunk O’ Plastic

50’ of Plastic Tubing

1 Golf Driver Club

45 pieces of 8” Plastic Pipe

9 ½ PVC Pipes

1 long Plastic Planter

1 Tote Cover

1 Plastic Sink

Trash Contest Entries!!!!

Best Darned Find of the Day

An “Official” Message in a Bottle

A natural Terrarium growing in a Glass Bottle

Weirdest Trash

1 naked Baby Doll

1 Motor Gear

1 Garage Door Opener

1 Car Seat Headrest

2 Mylar Balloons

Biggest Trash

1 plastic Big Wheel Tricycle

1 25 ft. Tape Measurer

100 ft. of Cable

Most Fashionable

1 Security Badge

1 Wool Coat

1 Tank Top

1 Shoe

1 Metal Bird

Most Artistic

1 Fishing Lure

1 Wooden Heart

1 Wire & Plastic Contraption

1 Bobber in Driftwood

Oldest Trash

1 Computer Hard Drive Tower

1 Fire Extinguisher

1 Spray Can

1 Audio Tape

1 Guy Wire Loop

1 Wooden Box

Most Useful

1 Cooler

1 Dollar

1 I.D. Card

1 Small TV

1 Plastic Cup

1 Library Card

1 Pair of Pliers

1 Toy Airplane

1 Socket

1 Wheel

1 Solar Powered Light

1 Crossbow Pistol

1 BB Gun Handle

1 Maglight

1 MO Lisence Plate

5 Balls

1 Hub Cap

2 pieces of Marble (from a table)

2 iPods

1 plastic Base Ball Bat

Best Animal Finds

1 Deer Skull complete with Antlers & Teeth

2 Jaw Bones

1 stuffed Penguin with a Santa Hat

1 headless Turkey Decoy

1 Bag of Deer Bones

We Love St. Joe!

We arrived on Thursday to start setting up our camp, conveniently located right underneath the Remington Nature Center, and began to ready our crew for the trash scout on Friday.  The ladies at the Nature Center were really nice and let me stop in there a few times to get out of the rugged cold.  I loved seeing the huge Wooly Mammoth that greets everyone at the front door!  What a cool place for learning right there on the river.

The dumpsters started to arrive, and we began to pile on the layers of clothing as a chilly wind blew, and the clouds robbed us of warm sunshine.  Jerry, one of several Master Naturalist volunteers that showed up to help, joined the scout.  And off we went.

Even though the weather was bitterly cold, I enjoyed as always seeing the beauty of the river while scouting for trash.  While we were motoring around, every now and then I would see a small duck head pop back underneath the water, only to pop up again close by.  I never saw the ducks body... how strange.  Jerry told us that they were called "Pie Billed Grebes".  Then I also noticed some "Coots" easily identifiable by their black round body and white bill.  But the best "bird" highlight of the weekend was the Pelicans!  There was probably over 100 pelicans that kept us company all weekend just across the river flying high above the tree line around & around in circles.... they never went anywhere, never perched on anything or swam down the river that I saw... they just glided around and around.  Oh, and how can I forget, the Swan!  We saw the same exact lone swan swimming around the riverfront two years ago.  Local ambassador, Ken Reeder tells us that the Swan has lived there at the river front for something like 11 years!

 

This was Missouri River Relief's 3rd cleanup in the St. Joe area.  Together with our community clean-up partners and volunteers, we were able to remove 6.9 tons of trash from the banks of the river!

Thank You St. Joe!

It has been 2 years since we helped clean the river in St. Joe, and with 1 major flood in the mix from 2011, we weren't sure how much trash we would find.  Sadly, we found a ton.  Well, I guess 7 tons actually.  Highways are built right alongside the river, with lots of railroads, and pockets of land for a walking trail and riverfront park.  So what we were actually finding was highway and railroad refuse, trash littered from well used beaches and fishing accesses, illegal dumps and abandoned homeless camps.  We prayed for a great turnout so that we could get all of this junk off of the river.

Well, if the sun had just come out, we might have seen over 270 volunteers like in 2010.  But after a freezing night hovering in the 30s, a stiff breeze and no sunshine, we were just amazed that 125 brave souls showed up to get out on the river!  Brrrr!!! ...and clean the river they did!  Just check out the amazing trash tally !

After bringing the volunteers back for lunch just a couple hours later, one of the favorite parts of our lunch program is the "Git that Garbage" Trash Contest!  As each boat load started to trickle back in, much to everyone's relief, the lunch that was being provided by the St. Jo Frontier Casino had been moved inside!  It was like heaven.  What a treat.  On top of that, we had a wonderful trash contest MC'd by our own Steve Schnarr, followed by a captivating river "love" story by story teller and Ozark songstress, Maridith Sisco!

 

We got all warmed up - no actually Meredith got us fired up - and we went back out to finish hauling in the trash from the river that we learned was really our life blood, every bit a part of us.  Meredith joined us later that night around our campfire where she graced us with her historic rendition of the song "Shanendoah" after telling us the story of its history and how over time it had been changed to a sailor's tale.  It was amazing.
Everything was smooth sailing after lunch, and we had an incredible clean-up and weekend in St. Joe!

A huge thanks to Scott, Thomas, Darby and Jason, the Mo. Dept. of Conservation biologists that brought their boats to shuttle volunteers. Much thanks to MDC employee T.J. Peacher for bringing an ATV and trailer to help haul trash by land. And thanks to Ron Gillette from St. Joseph Parks for running the back hoe used to get trash from boats to the dumpsters.  And to our local ambassadors, Ken Reeder and John Wood who took good care of us while we were in town.

To read more stories about the St. Joe Missouri River clean-up and see more photos from the event, check out our blog and photos on Flickr!

It takes a real leap of faith to get down & dirty on the Mighty MO and we can't thank our St. Joe sponsors, partners and volunteers enough for all of the support they showed us while we were in town!

photos by Melanie Cheney, Steve Schnarr and Rachel Beck  http://rachelbeckphotos.com/

Kaw Point Trash Tally!!!!

Kansas City Missouri River Clean-up

Kaw Point Park, Kansas City, KS
October 3, 2009

Here's the results snapshot of our 2009 Kansas City Clean-up, followed by the Trash Tally!
(to check out our Kansas City event homepage, click here. to check out photos from the day, click here)

Total Volunteers: 394
MRR Crew: 33
Boats: 16 (4 Missouri Department of Conservation; 4 Missouri River Relief,
1 Burns & McDonnell, 3 Rivermiles, 3 Environmental Protection Agency, 1 Private)
River Miles: 12 (10 on the Missouri River, 2 on the Kaw River)
River Level: 10.4 feet (Kansas City gage)
Landfill: 8.2 tons
Scrap Metal: 2.7 tons
Recyclables: not yet available
Tires: 63 (1 ton)
Total Tonnage: awaiting recyclables
Stream Teams: 1875, 1876, 3331, 175, 41, 211, 1995, 907, 1212, 2793,
Volunteer Groups Involved: World Helping Empower Youth (W.H.E.Y.), Trenton High School, Scuola Vita Nuova, Rockhurst University, Breakpoint Community Church, Crossroads Church, UCM Environmental Awareness Club, Friends of Kaw Point, North Central Neighbors
Names of River Teams – the Arrowheads, the Treasure Hunters, The Cold, The Gnarly’s, the Yankees, Roos 1, Roos 2, the Whirling Dervishes, Ratatouille, Big Ass Group, Phils Team, Sacs, The Funks, The Cougars, Go-Chicken-Go, Home Brewers, Muddy Buddies, Coke Rocks, The Mud Guppies, Pirates, The Woodleys, The Keystone Cops, the Bearcats, Classic Cola, Coca Cola, Group 6, Oscars, Team Yassi, EAC, the Oddballs, the Grouches, Sprite, The W.H.E.Y. (World Helping Empower Youth), Gap

Trash Tally!!!!
245 Bags of Trash
219 Pieces of Scrap Metal
25 Tires on Rim
34 Tires w/o Rim
4 Semi Truck Tires
2 Inner tubes
1 Wheel
16 Chunks of Styrofoam
6 Coolers
1 Water Jug
11 – 5 gallon Plastic Buckets
2 – 55 gallon Metal Drums
6 – 55 gallon Plastic Barrels
NO REFRIGERATORS
NO WASHERS
NO DRYERS
NO HOT WATER HEATERS -- this has got to be A Missouri River Cleanup Record!!! Perhaps our efforts to clean the river are working!!!
1 Propane Tank
1 Deep Freeze
2 TVs
1 Air Mattress
1 Waterbed Side Rail
3 Window Frames
1 Futon Frame
1 Grill Rack
4 Chairs
3 Storage Tubs
1 Laundry Hamper
1 Baby Play Pen
1 Welcome Mat
1 Home Depot “green” bag
1 Railroad Car Spring
1 Jeep Tail Gate
2 Gas Tanks
1 John Deere Tractor Cover
1 Hub Cap
1 Car Door
2 Car Bumpers
1 Truck Mud Flap
4 Large Rugs
2 pieces of Carpet Padding
1 piece of Astroturf
2 Road Cones
1 Hand Saw
2 pieces of Barge Rope
3 Street Signs
2 Croc sandals
1 Sled
15 Toys & Balls
2 pairs of Sunglasses
1 Large Lightbulb
2 liter Glass Soda Bottle
1 Baby Stroller
1 Message in a Bottle
1 Pan
1 Tea Cup
14 pieces of Metal Cable
15 large Metal Plates & Bolts
1 Shovel Spade
1 Compressor
1 Camp Stove
200 ft of Cable
1 Shopping Cart
1 Cabinet
6 pieces of Electric Wire
1 American Flag Light Bulb
8 Fishing Poles
7 Tarps
2 Headlights
1 Electric Switch
2 Tents
1 My Little Pony Lunch Box
1 pair of Boots

"Git that Garbage" Trash Contest Winners:
Most Useful piece of Trash: 1 pair of Pruners
Oldest Trash: 1958 & 1969 License Plates
Biggest piece of Trash: 2 Large Plastic Culverts (4 feet in diameter, 20ft long)
Tackiest piece of Trash: A “Protect the Environment” fish bait container lid
Wierdest piece of Trash: Busted can of Foam
Best Darned Find of the Day: 1 Unopened Can of Beer “211 Still Reserve”
Most Resembling… a Sea Anenome -- a squishy rubber toy

Cleaning Rivers

Kansas City Missouri River Clean-up
Kaw Point Park, Kansas City, KS
Saturday, October 3, 2009

text and photo by Russ Payzant

(blogmaster's note: Russ is one of the founders of Rivermiles, the folks that bring you the Missouri River 340. Their mission is the same as ours: connect people to our rivers through direct action and experience. He drove a Rivermiles boat at our clean-up, taking volunteers out to pick up trash. Thanks Russ!)

On October 3rd, we helped the Missouri River Relief with a clean-up of the Area Rivers around Kansas City. The public was invited to a day on the river, with an effort to clean up the river bank. A few hundred people turned out and we picked up a lot of trash and even dug out some appliances that had been dumped in the water. Made a difference I think—now the river is not like clear mountain streams or the Opal blue waters of Cozumel, but it is better than it was.

The real purpose was to give people a chance to travel the Missouri and Kaw Rivers, to see the rich resource and beauty right here in their home town. As we ferry them back and forth between work areas, they see wonderful scenes of riverscape. Many people lived here their whole lives and have never seen it, they were impressed. It was a relaxed day and pleasant. I like this time of year.

(for more results of the Kansas City Clean-up, click here - to see the whole photo file of the clean-up, click here)

Local KC groups host EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson

Summer of Service Kickoff
Kaw Point Park, Kansas City, KS
June 22, 2009

text by Vicki Richmond, photos by David Richter

This summer, President Obama is calling on Americans – young and old, from every background, all across this country – to participate in our nation’s recovery and renewal by serving in our communities. From June 22 to September 11, "United We Serve" will begin to engage citizens from coast to coast in addressing community needs with volunteer time.

The Missouri Department of Conservation contacted us and asked if we would be willing to lend a hand. The Friends of the Kaw would be bringing kayaks, Blue River Watershed Association would be doing water quality monitoring with students and the Missouri Department of Conservation would coordinate the day with EPA officials. It was our charge to bring the boats and get folks out to pick up trash.

We River Reliefers know service and met the request by bringing boats down to Kaw Point, at the place where Kansas City’s two biggest rivers meet, to host Environmental Protection Agency’s Administrator Lisa Jackson as she kicked off the initiative just blocks from the EPA Region 7 Headquarters.

Our mission involves introducing people to the Missouri River – a river we all depend on but few have a personal relationship with. Show off the Missouri River to Lisa Jackson? What an honor!


We loaded the boats early and with the help of EPA staff and volunteers began picking up the trash that lines the Kansas River after recent high water. Administrator Jackson took the podium, reiterating the need for service and encouraging the lively crowd. Students met us at the boat ramp after studying the water closely, ready to haul the accumulated trash up the boat ramp and into the waiting truck.

Administrator Jackson donned gloves and began taking bag after bag of trash from the boats to the truck headed for the dumpster. She was genuine and approachable and seemed interested and impressed with our efforts and energy.

It was exciting to see these local watershed groups gather together to show the nation what we are working on here – to involve students and federal leaders together in a model project. Similar efforts are happening all across the nation, and we hope this national focus on service will help match interested volunteers with the work that needs to be done.

Special thanks to Michael Richmond, Bill Fessler, David Richter and Susie Burton McRoberts for pulling together at the last minute to pull this together!

Susie pilots the Hildy Harliner out onto the Missouri.

Folks from Blue River Watershed Association assist students with water quality monitoring right out on Kaw Point. Check out their posting on the event on the Missouri Stream Team Assistant blog: http://mostreamteam.blogspot.com/2009/07/lisa-jackson-in-kansas-city.html

Kansas City Collage

Dave Richter sent some photos into animoto...these are mostly shots from the morning at our Oct. 6 Kaw Point Clean-up.