Omaha Clean Sweep a Success!

This was Missouri River Relief's 4th clean-up in the Omaha area.  Last year we enjoyed a fun and successful clean-up just before the monumental flooding, now known as the "Great Flood of 2011".

Together with our community clean-up partners and volunteers like you, we were able to remove 5.2 tons of trash from the banks of the river!

On Saturday, September 22, 208 volunteers showed up at NP Dodge Park to donate a few hours of their time to beautify and help clean the Missouri River.  Nebraska Game and Parks biologists Gerald Mestl and Josh Wilhelm brought their huge boats to help haul volunteers.

We had to move the cleanup to NP Dodge this year due to extremely low river levels and tons of sand that had silted in the Lewis & Clark Marina in downtown Omaha.  NP Dodge Park is more than 10 miles North of downtown Omaha, and our scout crews were having trouble finding loads of trash along the shoreline, as is often most prevalent downstream of any big city.  On top of that, the weeds on the banks were high up, way over our heads!  Where would we take 200+ volunteers?   

Regardless, the show must go on right?  So we scouted 10 miles of the river, flagging any site that looked people friendly, even if there wasn't much trash, we could only hope that the volunteers would enjoy hanging out on the bank of the river on such a beautiful day.  Despite not seeing the trash, we knew it was there.  Much of what we saw were big tanks, barrels and docks that had been ripped apart and sent downstream after last year's monumental flood.

On Thursday, we had hooked up with a great group of volunteers from Mutual of Omaha and cleaned up a stretch of river just above the Narrows River Park.  In just a few hours, the crew had cleaned up 1 ton of trash to include a boat load of tires!  So that was our first clue, that there was indeed an assortment of garbage littering the banks of the Big Muddy, even if we were upstream of Omaha.

Well the big day arrived, and the weather was gorgeous!  Craig Howell from Mayor Suttle's office and their amazing Americorps Vista volunteers really saved the day.  They efficiently got registration set up, and then broke down in preparation for lunch which at the last minute had been switched to Sam & Louie's Pizza!  Thanks to Craig's hard work, we were able to get lunch for the hundreds of volunteers donated, which really helps keep Missouri River Relief's costs down. 

Then the volunteers started to arrive, our crew got the boat ramp ready with trash bags, tools, and our safety & dispatch areas ready, the boat drivers had a meeting, and then it was time to start loading volunteers in boats.  Before you know it, we had boat load after boat load of volunteers going out on the river.  Over half of the people I talked to in my boat had never been on the river before, some didn't really know what to expect, but after educating the volunteers about what we were doing out there, and why it is so important, I sensed that all of the volunteers had a really good time crawling around on the banks of the Big Muddy.

After bringing the volunteers back for lunch just a couple hours later, part of our lunch program is the "Git that Garbage" Trash Contest!  As the volunteers happily finished their pizza, Jennifer Morrel from the National Park Service gave a great talk about the animals of the Missouri River, and showed some beautiful otter & beaver pelts.  Then it was time to show off our trash treasures from the day.  We were so happy to see the excitement in the kids eyes as they proudly showed off their animal finds from the morning, and other odd trash treasures.  Check out our entire trash tally to include the Trash Contest entries below!

 

The rest of the afternoon, we finished loading all of the trash onto a barge donated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  On Friday, we had set up empty dumpsters donated by Waste Management & Remelt Industries for landfill & scrap metal trash.  We had a separate pile for tires which was being picked up on Monday from the Bridgestone "One Team One Planet" program, and unfortunately, we had a fairly large pile of hazardous waste chemical jugs and barrels to deal with too.  The Army Corps guys helped us off load all of it on Monday, and took the hazardous waste and dozen blue & white 55-gallon barrels.  They were such a huge help!

We certainly couldn't have done it without the help of all of our sponsors, partners & volunteers.  Thank you Omaha/Council Bluffs!

 Here's the results from a successful day of cleaning up the banks of the Missouri River:

Omaha Missouri River Cleanup

NP Dodge Park, Omaha, NE

September 22^nd, 2012

Total Volunteers: 208

MRR Crew:  15

Boats:  8  (5 Missouri River Relief, 2 Nebraska Game & Parks, 1 Army Corps of Engineers)

River Miles:  8 Missouri River miles (624-632)

River Level: 15.42 ft  (Omaha Missouri River Gage)

Tires: 58  (1 ton)

Landfill Tonnage:  2.7 tons 

Scrap Metal: 1.5 tons

Total Tonnage:  5.2 Tons!

Groups & Agencies Involved:  Missouri River Relief, Mayor’s Suttle's Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Back to the River, Captain Planet Foundation, Constellation Energy, Gallup, Inc., Northern Natural Gas, Sam & Louie’s Pizza, Harrah’s, Bridgestone "One Team One Planet", City of Council Bluffs, IA, City of Omaha, NE, Country Inn & Suites, Green Omaha Coalition, Nebraska Game & Parks Commission, Pottawattamie County Conservation, Remelt Industries, Waste Management, Big Muddy Urban Farm, G4S, Boy Scout Troop 510, Americorps Vista, Leo Club, LDS Mormon Church, Keep Iowa Beautiful and the National Park Service

Names of River Teams:  River Rats, Griffindoor, King Cobra, Stormin’ Mormons, Big Brown, The Saber, Tigers, Slimeballs, Kick Butt, Mudders, Broncos, Asian Carp, G4S, Rip Rap

Trash Tally!!!!

185 Bags of Trash

58 Tires

18 Chunks O’ Styrofoam

3 Coolers

6 – 5 gallon Plastic Buckets

18  - 55 gallon Plastic Barrels

3 – 55 gallon Metal Drums

1 – 25 gallon Metal Drum

3 Refrigerators

1 Refrigerator Door

1 Ice Dispenser

5 Propane Tanks

1 Car Seat

1 ½ Bed Springs

3 ½ Bed Frames

2 Couch Cushions

6 Chairs

1 Picnic Table

Shelves

4 Counter Tops

2 Chaise Lounge Chairs

1 Car Door

2 Car Mats

5 pieces of Carpet

1 set of Cabinet Doors

20 ft. of plastic Corrugated Roofing

20 ft. of 1 ½ inch Plastic Pipe

2 ½ Doors

30 ft. of Wiring Conduit

1 plastic Step Ladder

1 - 4’x8’ wooden Lattice

1 – 10’x20’ Dock

1 glass Window

2 ft. piece of an I-beam

400 lbs of assorted Metal

120 ft. of 1-inch Cable

100 lbs of Rebar

1 – 5 ft. Pipe

1 – 4ft. Metal Cable

1 BBQ Grill

4 TVs

1 Fishing Pole

1 Tarp

3 – 250 gallon square Plastic Tanks with cage & spout (2 with purple ink type liquid)

1 – 30 gallon Trash Can

1 – 500 gallon Metal Diesel Tank

1 Buoy

1 – 5 gallon Metal Kerosine Can

Trash Contest Entries!!! (winners in bold)

Biggest Trash:

1 bright blue Chunk O’ Styrofoam

1 part of a Bed Frame

1 fiberglass corrugated Roof

Most Artistic Trash

1 small silver Christmas Ornament

1 tiny glittery Styrofoam Ball

1 Bike Spoke decorated with Plastic Bags

1 Metal Hubcap

½ inch Metal Wire

Wierdest Trash

1 weird looking blond lady Plush Doll

1 Spongebob Wind-up Doll

1 plush Elmo Doll

1 Blow-up Can of Pork & Beans

Most Fashionable Trash

1 dirty Rag

1 grey Tank Top

1 pair of dirty Socks

1 white lacey Bra

1 size-11 High Heel Shoe

Oldest Trash

1 large Light Bulb

1 car window crank Metal Gear

1 – 5 gallon Metal Bucket Lid

Most Useful Trash

1 large Light Bulb

1 Exercise Sign

1 “No Parking” in Picnic Area Sign

1 YMCA “Parking” Sign

1 Basket Ball

1 Soccer Ball

1 Cooler

Best Animal Find

1 Goose Head Decoy

1 Duck Butt Decoy

1 Full Duck Decoy

1 pink Flamingo

1 wooden Pig-shaped Cuttingboard

1 Feather

1 Gar Skin

Best Darned Find of the Day

A 2-headed Dragon


It was a long & tiring, but ever so fulfilling day... as River Relief crew dog, Saffron can attest to.

Return to Siouxland...

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.

Siouxland Trash Tally!

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!

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!

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!!!!

Siouxland 2010

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

Trash Tally & Results!

Siouxland Missouri River Clean-up

Chris Larson Park, Sioux City IA
June 27, 2009

Total Volunteers: 182
MRR Crew: 23
Boats: 11 (4 Missouri River Relief, 1 Army Corps of Engineers, 2 Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 4 Nebraska Game and Parks)
River Miles: 12 (10 miles on the Missouri River from river mile 728-738, 2 miles starting at the mouth of the Big Sioux)
River Level: 16.7 feet on the USGS real-time Sioux City gage
Landfill Tons: to be announced
Scrap Tons: to be announced
Tires: 7
Total Tonnage: to be announced

Trash Tally!!!!

97 bags of trash
7 tires
4 chunks of styrofoam
2 55 gallon metal drums
2 refrigerators
4 washers
2 hot water heaters
1 chest freezer
1 propane tank
1 microwave
1 microwave cart
1 mattress
1 box spring
2 bed rails
1 recliner
1 folding chair
1 1948 light blue Buick Roadmaster hood
1 1966 Iowa license plate
2 car bumpers
1 side view mirror
1 rearview mirror
1 auto grill
2 wooden pallets
1 pvc pipe
5 pieces of lumber
33 metal strips
3 metal pipes
5 metal hunks
36 feet of steel cable
3 pieces of chain link fence
6 pieces of rebar
1 water tank
1 burner
1 grill
2 8X10 sheets of plate metal
1 bridge decking
6 pieces of metal decking
1 metal fence with wood posts
Farm fencing
2 televisions
1 computer monitor
1 pogo stick
1 No Wake sign
1 Private Property Union Pacific Railroad sign
1 golf ball
1 doggie door
1 railroad car hand brake actuator
1 tin of wet snuff
1 pale yellow toilet bowl
1 duck decoy head
1 computer monitor
1 small U.S. Flag
stationary
1 polished native copper stone from Santa Rita, NM
1 minnow fishing lure
1 full can of beer-Miller Lite
1 football
1 plaid lawn chair
1 crab skeleton

Best darned find of the day, a rusty old pogo stick

Siouxland Adventures...

Siouxland Missouri River Clean-up
June 27, 2009
Chris Larsen Park, Sioux City, IA
Scenic Park, South Sioux City, NE
Text by Vicki Richmond, photos by Carol Merbach and Melanie Cheney

Siouxland is a rare place on the Big Muddy. Three states (Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota) come together in this vibrant community. Development along the river is occurring rapidly, and folks really take advantage of the recreation that the river provides.


Our crew makes a long haul up there. Six hours for some, eight for others. A special commitment and a bit of bravery are involved in hopping into a van or truck and taking off for parts unknown. The Missouri River Reliefers were excited about getting back on the water; for some it was the first clean up of the year and a cause for celebration.

Something happened in Siouxland that we’ve not seen regularly. A local committee formed to take the event to new heights, hosting us congenially and doing much of the on-the-ground leg work. Working with an expanding crew is exciting. New folks bring new ideas to the table and help us old-timers hone our skills.

The River Relief crew’s first day on deck began with a field trip to the Wastewater Treatment plant. This plant is being renovated by American Water, so our crew was able to see how retrofits are being used to upgrade the treatment plant to meet new water quality standards to the Missouri River. We toured the grounds and lagoons and made our way into the lab.


The lab is quite unique. Among the beakers and samples normally seen in any laboratory, tropical fish swim in containers retired from their chemistry days. Plants grow on windowsills. A friendly staff took our intrusion in stride, allowing us to poke around and look through their microscopes. A poster on the wall caught some of our eyes, and Steve, Daniel and I returned to the microscopes to try to identify the organisms from their poster snapshots. Special thanks go to Desiree and Karl for hosting us on this educational trip, and allowing us to interrupt their busy days and to Sherry for sharing her knowledge with our interested crew. (photo on right are samples taken from various effluent sources that discharge into the wastewater treatment plant)

After our field trip, the crew moved to lunch, while I returned to the beautiful Marina Inn to get paperwork settled and ready for our crew meeting later that day. After a delicious Mexican lunch, crew was ready to take to the water to scout for trash that could be safely accessed by volunteers on a Missouri that was running high and swift.

Trash is different here on the first city of the channelized river. We don’t see the large concentrations of trash that flooding usually brings. Instead, fishing refuse and the trash transported on storm drains is predominant. Few dumps exist, although a decision to work on the site of the old municipal landfill was made. The heavy and bulky trash has slowly moved down the banks, escaping the confines of the landfill. We’d worked on this site before, and will do so again with the help of strong volunteers.

The scouting crews returned just in time for dinner at the Chris Larsen Park shelter, enjoying a fine meal provided by Curly’s. Ellen, Tasha and Desiree had made sure the entire crew was well fed! Our MRR crew mingled with the Sioux Crew, cementing friendships made last year and creating new ones. The support of the local Sioux folks was astounding, our old friends from the Sgt. Floyd Museum were there, as well as partners from Argosy Casino, the City of Sioux City, American Water, the Siouxland Mud Puppies, the LDS church and community volunteers.

We enjoyed the opportunity to visit with our friends, but the dinner had a purpose- we needed to get a clear view of who was doing what! People stepped up quickly to staff the sign-in table, orientation station, safety station and lifejacket checks. Our MRR crew would handle dispatch, helped by Paul Lepisto of the Izaac Walton League. Our captains and mates were paired, each bringing their own brand of education to the boat trips that shuttle volunteers to the locations we’d scouted just that afternoon.

Events like these depend on the partners that come to bring their unique skills to the event. Nebraska Game and Parks was bringing four boats, Iowa Department of Natural Resources was bringing two and the Army Corps of Engineers another. With our boats, a total of 11 boats would shuttle volunteers to their project sites.

To add excitement to the day, Sally and her wonderful Keep Northeast Nebraska Beautiful team had designed a trash contest with a cash prize for both the best find of the day and the group with the largest turnout. This contest augmented our own trash and treasure contest and will be a model that we will use up and down the river.

Saturday dawned with the threat of rain that kept the morning cool and our eyes on the horizon. As we set up pop-up tents and tables in the cool of the morning excitement grew as the agency boats launched, and the large fish tank brought by Nebraska Game and Parks was filled.

Quickly, sign-in was the center of activity as volunteers arrived, signed in and were equipped with reusable water bottles, t-shirts and gloves. Passing through orientation, safety and lifejackets, volunteers waited patiently while dispatchers boarded them into waiting boats, with last instructions. Each boat was assigned a reach of river that had been scouted on Friday, and the trash concentrations flagged.

Volunteers who were unable to join the on the water team set out for the trail. Tasha and Desiree began shuttling people and trash in Tasha’s ATV, bringing volunteers half way down the trail so that the trash pick up became the road home. Bags were left on the trail and picked up by Tasha and her crew. Trash was then loaded into American Water pick-ups for their final trip to the dumpster on the Nebraska side.

Over at the Scenic Park ramp in Nebraska, dumpsters arrived and a front-end loader began the ballet of moving trash form our heavily laden boats to the waiting dumpsters. Each boatload of trash is logged on a tally sheet, and these numbers compiled. Our trash lists are something of an archeology project, and show the wide variety of what is out there. Ruthie tallied the trash while John, Ty and Josh made sure it all made it to the correct dumpster.

About 2:45 my phone rang with a call for a room key and an invitation to go for a swim in the hotel pool. Checking the time, I was amazed that the clean up had progressed so far so fast. Our crews were done and the trash loaded by 3:00. This gave us time to take a break and a much needed shower so that we could again come together for a dinner to celebrate the day.

The weather cooperated, allowing us to hold the dinner in the shelter in Scenic Park. Just next to the shelter was an enormous jungle gym, complete with a spider web to climb. The crew began to giggle as we climbed aboard for a group photo. American Water had Aggies cater a dinner for the volunteers who had worked so hard all day.

Siouxland has a special connection to the river and a knack for making folks feel at home. Special thanks to the Sioux Crew planning committee: Desiree McCaslen, Ellen Myers, Tasha Barker and Sally Reinert for all of their time and talent. Our events could not happen with out the generous support of sponsors, and that list will appear in another post on this blog.