River Otter Trash Tally!!!!

Third Annual River Otter Day Clean-up
March 21, 2009
Berkley Riverfront Park, Kansas City, MO

Pieces of concrete with re-bar - 4
Small animal skull (dog) - 1
Beach whistles (tampon applicators) - 2
Bags of trash - 212
PVC Pipe 15’ long - 1
5 gal plastic buckets - 1
Pieces of metal pipe - 4
Boxes of trash - 5
Fire extinguisher - 1
Barrel - 1
Wood Pallets - 9
Chairs - 5
Lg. Gas hose - 1
Street light globe - 1
Part of roof - 1
Toilet lid, size 82 - 1
Easy Bake Oven - 1
Corrugated sheet - 1
Toilet - 1
Bathroom sink - 1
Pedestal Sink - 1
Ants - 42,000
Bamboo Blind - 1
Railroad spike - 2
Large wooden Cable Spools - 2
Shovel, Broken handle - 1
Computer cases - 3
Misc. sizes of plywood sheets - 13
Chunks of Wood - 13
Plastic Tarps, assorted sizes - 15
Carpet pieces, assorted sizes - 13
Metal Bucket - 1
Old Wooden piano - 1
Construction cone - 1
Garden Hoses - 2
Muffler (auto) - 1
Rusty Metal, assorted sizes and HEAVY - 4
Metal Cable barge tie downs - 18 long pieces
Cable choker - 1
Fishing Rod & Reel - 1
Pieces of Large Metal pieces - 3
Heavy I-Beam, or Letter H, or Letter I - 1
Metal directional arrow - 1
Truck mirror - 1
8” corrugated plastic pipe - 6
Bumper - 1
Choker - 1
TV - 1
Blankets - 2
Bar Stool 1
Christmas Tree, dead and with NO lights - 1
Tape Measure - 1
Mesh Bags - 12
Twin Mufflers - 3
Construction barricades - 4
Tires * - 91
* Note: 20 of the assorted tires found were Tractor Trailer tires.

River Otter Day in downtown KC

The Third Annual River Otter Day
March 21, 2009
Berkley Riverfront Park - Kansas City, MO

text by Vicki Richmond, photos by Mark Rowlands

River Otter Day just celebrated its third year of bringing people down to the Missouri River in Downtown Kansas City. Bringing people down to the Missouri River, to the place where we became a city, where industry and commerce and population began.

This is a place that is seeing a renaissance. Amenities are being added to Berkley Park. Trails that connect KC citizens to points well to the east and west are underway and the Kansas City Riverfront Heritage Trail access is being greatly improved. A showcase Missouri River Ecosystem is being built in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers in an area just recently covered with unused concrete slabs that have attracted trash and construction debris, cans and tires.

The concentration of trash we saw just two years ago has sharply decreased. A success story is being written as we get ahead of the big and bulky and concentrate on smaller litter in the spots we’ve attacked before.

“Every piece of trash we pick up today makes a difference” said Vincent Gauthier, Executive Director of the Port Authority of Kansas City who sponsored the event. “On a beautiful first Saturday of spring we let Mother Nature breathe a little easier”.

Over 237 people came out to do just that! Crews combed the site of the new ecosystem, tackled every piece of trash at Berkley Riverfront Park and removed a history of cast offs near the Rugby fields and Columbus Park. The tally for the day’s unique trash is posted below.

Eljay’s coffee greeted volunteers with delicious java and hot chocolate for all. Lunch was served by the Centurions Leadership program of the KC Chamber of Commerce, as the music of the KC Uptown All Stars entertained the commendable crowd.

As an organizer, there is a moment when everyone has gone home and we sit and smile in front of the pile of garbage we’ve created. We feel a sense of pride in what people working together can accomplish.

My moment was interrupted by a camera flash. As I looked from the pile to the four bicycles parked nearby, it dawned on me. I was sitting in a truck, with trailer attached, beside a big pile of trash that had just appeared. My photo had been taken to “turn in the bad dumper.”

I sprang from the truck, grinning, with a results publication and my business card. “We DID put this trash here! It has come from over 20 acres of beautiful river frontage. I appreciate your commitment to keeping your city a cleaner place.”

I think we’ll see our new friends on a clean up sometime soon!

Special thanks to Vincent Gauthier, Melisa Lloyd, Branden Criman, Zoraya Lara, Port Authority of Kansas City and Julie Gibson Sally, Clear LLC for their gifts of time. Ahern Rentals provided grills for lunch and the electric carts pressed into service to transport supplies and bring trash to the dumpsters. Cole Welch of Tectonic directed the native plantings at the base of the Town of Kansas Pedestrian Bridge, leaving a lasting impression.

Teams:
The Scuela Vida Nueva Kids
Team Rockhurst-
The Centurions
Missouri River Relief Crew
Youth Volunteer Corps
Missouri Master Naturalists
Stream Team Port Authority
Alligator Cove Stream Team
Little Blue River Stream Team
Friends of Lakeside Stream Team

Spring Cleaning along the Riverfront Heritage Trail

River Otter Day Clean-up
March 22, 2008
Riverfront Heritage Trail, future Wetlands Ecosystem Restoration Project,
historic Town of Kansas
Kansas City, MO

photos copyright 2008 by Michael and Vicki Richmond

The second annual River Otter Day kept up a tradition started last year – postponement due to snow on the ground. Saturday, March 22 was our “Plan B” date, and luckily the weather was fantastic.

The annual Kansas City Riverfront clean-up was originally instigated by the Port Authority of Kansas City, who is hard at work renovating land around the Riverfront Heritage Trail and the Main Street Pier, at the historic site of the Town of Kansas on the Missouri River. Also in the works is a pedestrian/bike overpass connecting the Riverfront Heritage Trail to Berkley Riverfront Park.



They led the way again this year, bringing MRR Western Reach Manager Vicki Richmond in on the planning and execution.

Over 50 volunteers showed up, working hard all morning to remove every piece of trash they could find along the trail and at the future site of the Port Authority’s Wetland Ecosystem Restoration Project, which will return portions of the riverside land to restored wet prairie. They again cleared off the lonely piling below the pier, requiring a ladder and broom. Other crews crawled into the railroad “roundhouse”, cleaning out piles of old garbage.



In addition to Missouri River Relief KC crewmembers, there were folks from the Little Blue River Watershed Coalition, the newly formed Wal-Mart Stream Team, the local Downtown Community Improvement District, Alligator Cove Stream Team #1876, Friends of Riverfront Park, the Port Authority of Kansas City, Kansas City Power & Light and other area groups. Some of the energy built up in the previous weekend's Kansas City Area Stream Team Conference carried over to the effort, giving folks a chance to act right away after being inspired at the Conference. Thanks to everyone for pitching in.

Click here for the NBC coverage...

Check out the Trash Tally below to see what all these busy hands came up with!

Special Thanks to our Sponsors and Partners in this effort!

Port Authority of Kansas City (clean-up hosts & MRR sponsor)
Kansas City Power & Light (MRR sponsor)
First & Main Lofts
Eljay's Coffeehouse
Cafe al Dente
Planet Sub
Missouri Stream Team

River Otter Trash Tally!

River Otter Day Clean-up
March 22, 2008
Kansas City, MO

Here's the partial tally of trash from the River Otter Day Clean-up along the Missouri River in downtown Kansas City, MO, perfectly tallied by MRR crewmember Michael Richmond -

80 Blue or Black trash bags filled with trash
( bags were filled with plastic bottles, Styrofoam cups, misc. wrappers/papers, small metal objects, and forgotten treasures)
20 Mesh bags filled with glass
1 plastic chair
1 sign
1 ice cooler
10 plastic 5 gal buckets
15’ plastic pipe
1 4’ trout pillow (species not common in Missouri River)
1 white wicker chair
9 Rugs of assorted sizes
2’ x 4’ piece of ½” plywood
5 worn and tattered blue tarps
1 elec. Vacuum cleaner
1 15’ steel rod/bent
2 plastic hoses
1 metal bucket
1 Cadbury blue candy sign
1 rusty paint can
1 shopping cart
1 wire screen
1 rope
1 foam liner from full size sofa
1 15’ 2” steel pipe
1 blanket
1 plastic red milk crate
1 wood fence post (perhaps from the town of Kansas?)
1 mattress
1 small stuffed rabbit toy/ confirmed NOT to be the Easter Bunny
2 rusty mattress spring sets
1 folding camp chair, badly worn
2 orange safety cone
1 4’ x 8’ sheet of ½’ plywood
1 2 ½’ plastic hose, 25’ in length
1 2’ x 6’ steel floor grate
1 double brown steel kitchen sink, w/o faucet
1 4’ plumbing rusty pipe drain
1 elec. Panel
1 auto gas tank
misc. scrap metal
1 rusty chair springs
1 window AC box w/o insides
1 toaster oven but no toast
1 ball busing compressor from refrigerator
misc. parts to old washing machine
4’ wire cable
1 phonograph turn table
1 6’ rope with noose
10 tires
1 stove
1 dumpster filled with bricks/concrete blocks, misc. metal and approx. 15 bags of trash, and mesh bags of glass items.

New friendships, a beautiful day, and a litter free riverfront!