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More volunteers needed for Big Clinch River Cleanup
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Kayaks and canoes loaded down with trash come ashore at Peach Orchard boat ramp at the end of the 2017 Big Clinch River Cleanup. (FH Oates photo)
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This year’s Big Clinch River Cleanup on Saturday, July 21, is very shorthanded, as many of our regular participants are unavailable this summer.
There’s still time for volunteers to sign up for the sixth annual cleanup, which starts at 8 a.m. with a free breakfast at the scenic Museum of Appalachia, 2819 Andersonville Highway, Norris. The cleanup will wrap up about 2 p.m.
Everyone who enjoys the river, from anglers to kayakers to wildlife watchers, is invited to help remove litter from the Clinch and its banks. The community wide cleanup is an expansion of annual pickups run for many years by members of the Clinch River Chapter, Trout Unlimited, which hosts the event. Last year, 103 volunteers gathered 75 tires and nearly 2,200 pounds of trash from the river.
Volunteers work in a variety of ways:
• Above the water line, workers walk along riverside roads and through parking areas, gathering trash.
• Volunteers wearing waders patrol for litter in shallow water.
• In kayaks and canoes, volunteers work to clean shorelines and shallow water where there is no public access by road.
• In powerboats and driftboats, volunteers haul tires and other items from the depths.
Support for all the teams is supplied by volunteering emergency medical people, ham radio operators, tire disposal professionals and workers with trucks who collect and dispose of filled trash bags.
To sign up, please visit crctu.org and click on Big Cleanup Registration. For more information, contact Rusty Hallett at hallettrusty@gmail.com or (859) 227-1227, or Dave Easter at dleaster660@gmail.com or (859) 608-7090.
Clinch River Chapter TU works to preserve and protect the Clinch River tailwater and its watershed through conservation projects and through education of children and adults in aquatic natural resources. Meetings are held the second Thursday of the month in the parish hall at St. Francis Episcopal Church, Norris, except when outdoor activities are scheduled.
Published July 16, 2018 |