This year we'll be doing our cleanup in the river on Saturday, September 7, from 10am to 3pm, weather and water conditions permitting!
We have fielded a number of responses to our Fall In-River Cleanups. They seem to fall into three major categories:
1) Whoa, that's amazing. Way to go! -- Thanks, we appreciate your support. Consider participating in this or other River Town Team activities moving forward.
2) Where did they all come from? -- People tend to throw tires and other heavy items into the river in order to avoid having to pay for disposal fees. Some have also been used in the past in construction projects which may have been blown out by a flood and then they gradually make their way downstream. They were definitely not all dumped either in the vicinity or even recently. We have done similar cleanups for the past several years but it had not been done in this area for probably 20 years before that. Sadly, we can expect there to be more again next year, owing both to new dumping and to the way the tires happily cruise along the bottom when the water level is higher.
3) Hey, what do you think you're doing? We put those tires in there on purpose! -- Thanks for your candor. It's been very enlightening. It is true that several decades ago, there were some programs that involved selectively introducing tires to certain bodies of water in an effort to provide fish habitat. That is no longer considered a best practice. First of all, the official programs used the tires in artificial bodies of water, like ponds or dammed lakes in order to create fish habitat where there was nothing whatsoever on the bottom. The river is full of habitat already. Rocks, logs, root balls. Second of all, the Fish and Boat Commission found there were two major drawbacks to the program even in locations without natural habitat options: on the one hand, they seemed to invite illegal and unwanted dumping under the guise of "helping" to provide additional habitat, and on the other hand, the tires don't tend to stay put, even in fairly still water bodies. And in the river, they are far worse on that count. So, let's hit the reset button and realize that tires do not belong in the river and help to remove them.
4) And how about all the other stuff? Why bother to pull it out? Well, we don't try to pull masonry out. It tends to be fairly inert chemically and it wastes our energy and our funds to collect it and pay to dispose of it. Things that are plastic on the other hand are neither inert, benign or localized. Plastic gradually breaks down, but not into innocent constituents, just into ever smaller bits which make their way downstream to the ocean and also upstream through the food chain, eventually to be consumed by top predators, such as people. Along the way, they soak up toxic chemicals, stuff the guts of seabirds, and torment aquatic animals of all descriptions.
In 2017 water levels were on the high-ish side for late August at just under 2.5', but the weather was beautiful. (For reference, you can contract that version of "high" with the 2018 flooding which saw the river crest at Lewisburg at just under 18'. No cleaning up or water activities happening during that!) We had over 50 volunteers on hand including the entire Bucknell Wrestling Team! We combed the areas along the Lewisburg bank between the islands and up around the mouth of Buffalo Creek. It was really gratifying to see how much less trashy it has become over the four years of conducting these cleanups. In fact, we only pulled out 16 tires this year -- bringing the grand total for all four years to 175 tires. (Eek.)
We will determine our meeting place closer to the date, depending on water levels and trash scouting reports. But wherever we will be, we'll meet at 10am that Saturday, September 7.
Volunteers should plan on spending at least 3 hours working. People will be needed both starting right at 10am and helping to wrap up at 3pm. So if you’d like to start at 10 and finish at 1 that would work and perhaps others will prefer to start at noon instead. At 10am, everyone planning to be in the water will be briefed about trash hot spots and safety information, before donning PFDs, boarding boats, or wading in. Second shift will be more of a mix of activities and will be more land-based. If you’d like to volunteer, but do not want to get on/in the water, shore helpers will also be needed to help with spotting, sorting, snacks, photos, etc, especially for the second half. Throughout the day we can use the help of people in boats, people wading, and people on shore.
All participants should be ready to get dirty, but wear clothing appropriate to their preferred activity. If you are going in the water, please wear clothes that can stand the soaking and mud as well as some kind of sturdy water shoes (old sneakers or water sandals work well; NO FLIP FLOPS!). Everyone should bring a water bottle, put on sunscreen, and wear a hat. Gloves will be useful mostly on land. We have a couple grabbers available, but if you have one to bring, they can be invaluable. Those in the water will pull tires and other debris from the shallows. Past finds have included the aforementioned tires, a toilet seat, a propane tank, a carpet pad, a children’s plastic picnic table, most of a push lawn mower, a printer, a vcr, a bicycle, and a full size residential pool liner.
Depending on water levels, people may be walking in the bed of the river more than being in a boat. That said, if you are able to bring a canoe or kayak, please let us know in advance by emailing elmstreet [at] windstream.net or 570.523.0114 so we can gauge capacity. This activity is ideal for beater boats.
If you'd like to be involved, follow us on facebook at Lewisburg Neighborhoods Corporation and On the River -- Lewisburg or Instagram and Twitter at OnTheRiverLburg. Also consider signing up for our email contact list or come on out to our next River Town Team meeting, third Monday evenings (check the online calendar to confirm for any given month). Come get involved in our ongoing events/awareness, conservation, connectivity, and planning efforts.
