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

More Mari-Osa March Madness

Mari-Osa Dump Clean-up, Part 2
March 7, 2009
Mari-Osa MDC River Access, Osage River
text by Steve Schnarr, photos by Emily Kunz, Dylan Lehrbaum & Richard Levell

check out our Mari-Osa Results page

First of all, here's our results statistics from this outrageous clean-up. Then, a few stories from the day. Thank you so much to all of you that came to help out.

Total Volunteers: 162
MRR Crew: 29
Boats: 8 (4 Missouri River Relief, 2 US Fish & Wildlife, 1 Missouri Dept. of Conservation and 1 Osage River Rats Stream Team)

Stream Teams: 1875, 1876, 3784, 3526
Rivermiles: 3
River level: 3.8 feet (St. Thomas gage)
Scrap Tons: 6.5
Landfill Tons: 3.3
Tires: 212 (3.3 tons)
Total Tonnage: 13.1

Names of River Teams: The Osage River Rats, the Sand Pipers, MANNRS-Lincoln University, the Hard Core Group, Corona, the Scallywags, Team of G, the Mohawks, the Elite 8, the J-Byrds, the Cardinals, the Christenburgs, the Fylan Troup

Clean-ups like this are such a convergence of interesting people with their own interesting stories. There were 162 different stories from the day, and I could only see a few. Just wanted to point out a few of them....

The Most Amazing Group of Volunteers Ever!
The night after the clean-up, our crew gathered around a campfire for a "pass the feather" about how the day went. Everyone was AMAZED at the quality of volunteers that worked that day. There were some folks that worked on the dump all day long, tirelessly filling trash can after trash can working on the steep hillside. At many of our big clean-ups, there are a large percentage of people looking for a nice morning on the river - which is great. But this was a different group of people all together. People were chomping at the bit to get back out there after lunch. No one was daunted by these seemingly impossible tasks we had set out for ourselves. It was one of the most inspiring days of my life. THANK YOU!!!!

The Trash Flume
I've posted a story elsewhere about how this came about. But suffice it to say, this was one cool addition to the show, allowing us to speedily and safely move TONS of trash down a steep hill, saving many backs in the process. Thanks to Captain Breyfogle for being the brains and brawn behind making this happen. And thanks to Rod Power for being the willing screwdriver behind the endeavor. Check out the You-Tube video, filmed by Jim Karpowicz.

The Tire Pile
Located just upstream of the 50/63 bridge, this was actually a bank stabilization project from days long past. There used to be a cabin perched above here, but the cabin is now gone and the landowner gave us permission to remove these unsightly tires. Last year we decided not to put too much energy into this, so this year it was a major goal. We put Jen Courtney and WT Bryan in charge of a group of super-hard-working Lincoln U students from the group MANNRS (Minorities in Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences). It was not an easy task. The tires were filled with rocks and trash that had to be cleaned out so they could be recycled.
Also...major thanks to Jim Salmons and his son Jim for dealing with this crazy batch of tires.

The Wire Pile
The Boehm family has farmed along the Osage River for generations. Past generations had dumped old scrap metal along the banks, hoping to keep the bank from eroding. Most of this was rolls and rolls of barbed wire and old fencing. We approached the current landowner, Clarence Boehm about removing this at our clean-up. He was happy to let us do this, and even came down to cut some trees and brush out of the way for us. This was a very difficult spot to clean-up - wire is just not fun to deal with. But this hardcore crew busted it out!

The Osage River Navy
This is a group of boaters and partiers that live near the Mari-Osa Delta. They have all been extremely appreciative of the clean-up efforts and over the past two years many have come out to help. From Bob Woodward, who lent us his trailer and hosted a BBQ for us in the evening, to British Bob Abery, who oversaw the dumpsters, to Skip Jenkins who posted fliers for us, to Jim Cooper who smoked up a fine BBQ dinner for our crew, these are a bunch of amazing men and women who love the Osage River and are glad to see it get cleaned up. Viva la Navy!

The Sinking Suburban Incident (Right Place, Right Time, Tools for the Job)
Often on river clean-ups something completely unrelated to the clean-up happens that requires immediate attention. Last year in Sioux City it was a massive boat dock that was careening down the Big Sioux River. Our boats were already in the water hauling trash, so they detoured up the Big Sioux to catch and stabilize the dock.
This year, at the Mari-Osa, we had an incident take place right next to us on the boat ramp. A boater with his two sons was trying to trailer his boat when the cable unspooled, leaving the boat drifting out in the river. The older son took the wheel, but apparantly was in neutral instead of drive - the Suburban quickly started rolling down the ramp into the river. We were unloading trash right next to them and jumped to action.
One of us jumped in the water, made sure both boys were stable and the Suburban (which had by now stalled) was in park. Jeff Barrow waded out and tied a rope to the front bumper while Indi Frank dumped his load of junk and brought the skid steer into position above the sinking suburban. They tied off the Suburban and started to pull it out of the water. By the time the bumper emerged, it seemed that the rope might break. Others had run up the hill to retrieve a chain and we hooked onto the skid steer with that.
Indi pulled the rig with it's trailer up the ramp to safety. No one was hurt.
Right place, right time, tools for the job.
(photo by Richard Levell)

Our boat drivers
In addition to our crew of four boats, we often rely on agency boat drivers to come help us haul volunteers and trash. This stuff is impossible without them, and for the past 8 years many of these biologists, agents and rangers have come again and again to help us with our mission of cleaning up the Missouri River.
This time we were lucky to have Mark Haviland and Pat Masek, MDC conservation agents for Cole and Osage Counties, bring a boat. They know the Osage as well as anyone, and they worked their butts off all afternoon, with the help of MDC employee Phil Pitts.
We were also joined by US Fish & Wildlife fisheries biologists Patty Herman and Colby Wrasse. These two are old clean-up pros, and they made amazing things happen at the Mari-Osa.
A special treat - a group of locals just started up a Stream Team upstream on the Osage called the Osage River Rats. They brought their little boat and hauled trash all day.
Thanks to all of you!!!!!

Mari-Osa 09 Trash Tally!

Mari-Osa Dump Clean-up, Part 2

March 7, 2009
Mari-Osa MDC River Access, Osage River
check out our Mari-Osa Results page

Working through these old dumps, you know you're going to come up with some trash treasures. Here's the unbelievable list of stuff volunteers pulled off the Osage River at our March 7, 2009, event.

Filling two 30-yard dumpsters of scrap metal and one 30-yard dumpster of landfill, we found (at least):

106 large bags of Landfill Trash
76 large bags of Scrap Metal
24 32-gallon trash cans of Broken Glass
210 Car & Truck Tires
2 large Tractor Tires
2 Tractor Inner Tubes
3 Refrigerators
9 Washing Machines
1 Dishwasher
2 Driers
3 Hot Water Heaters
1 Tricycle
1 mangled Bicycle
1Car Fender
6 large pieces of Styrofoam
20 ft. of Corrugated Pipe
42 ft. of misc. Pipe
1 Cooler
7 5-gallon plastic Buckets
6 metal Buckets
1 cast iron Pot
3 Stoves
1 Stove Front & Drawer
2 Stove Tops & Pieces
1 massive Brake Drum
1 metal Love Seat Swing
11 Box Springs
1 Head Board
4 Cow Panels
Several rolls of Barbed Wire
25 ft. of Cable Wire
8 Rolls of Fencing
7 Chairs
1 Lamp
1 Toilet
1 MO 98 Road Sign
2” Copper fitting (Steam)
1 Hog Waterer
3 metal Hub Cap’s
1 Fender from Antique Truck
½ of a Car front end Grill & Headlight
1 Alternator
1 Crank Shaft
1 Car Seat Springs
2 Tail Pipes
1 Drive Shaft
2 pieces of Carpet
8 pieces of roofing Sheet Metal
½ of a Pasture Gate
1 double Kitchen Sink
1 Counter Top
1 boat full of assorted Wire & Fencing
1 ancient Boat Motor
1 coil of Heavy Cable
1 Sewing Machine
1 Culvert
1 Tractor Gear Box
1 Air Filter for tractor
1 mini Ironing Board
1 Hide-a-Bed Frame
8 welded Wire Hog Panels
1 cast iron Furnace Grate
1 Brush Hog Deck
30 corrugated Metal Panels
1 VCR
1 push Lawnmower
1 antique French Fry Cutter
1 Snoopy Soap Dish
2 sections of a toy Train Track
1 headless Raccoon Statue
2 Teapots
2 Wash Tubs
1 toy metal Dump Truck
1 See Saw
1 Baseball Glove
1 shot-up Sign that reads: “$50 Reward for information leading to arrest and conviction of any person or persons found willfully mutilating or destroying this sign. The O.J. Gude Co. NY”
1 toy Cash Register
1 soggy book titled “Shaping History”
The letter “C”
1 decorative Perfume Bottle

photos by Emily Kunz, Richard Levell & Melanie Cheney

Click here to check out our results page on our website, with other cool links -