Saturday morning 7 friends got up early, packed a lunch and some boats and headed out to Lewis and Clark Park to meet with 40 other volunteers who were to spend the day cleaning the Sandy River, Dodge to Lewis & Clark, as part of SOLV IT. Armed with bags to collect garbage and our pocket knives to cut thousands of feet of fishing line, we spent the day giving back to the river.
Our crew organized ourselves to separate from the rest of the group and head up to Dodge Park rather than Oxbow Park to start our float. We often raft that section of the river and wanted to make sure it was going to benefit from our clean-up efforts, as our way to give back to the river and all the creatures who call it home. We had 2 rafts to haul us and the trash and a kayak to go where no raft could go, and a whole lot of enthusiasm.
By the end of our day at Dabny, we personally had collected 6 bags of trash including one that was near full with fishing line alone, 2 HUGE tires plus 3 other bike tires, 2 five gallon buckets, a hibachi and various other interesting trash. The interesting trash theme was the men’s undies:3 tighty-whites and 2 very large boxers.
Our 47 person crew was able to cover a lot of river: ”Our two groups on the Sandy River consisting of 47 people floated out about a dozen tires, 45-50 bags of trash, plenty of scrap metals, plastic pipe, fence posts, thousands of feet of mono filament fishing line and lots of empty cans from crappy beer. We just made Dodge > Dabney one of the cleanest river runs anywhere.” Russ Pascoe, coordinator extraordinaire,for Sandy River clean-up.
Below is the press release from SOLV that outlines the entire metro effort for Saturday. Hopefully you are inspired to bookmark their site and do your part to get involved. Of course, every day is Earth Day.
April 18, 2009, Hillsboro, Oregon…Under sunny skies and temperatures in the 60’s, 3,508 volunteers participated in the 20th annual SOLV IT Earth Day Event held Saturday, April 18th. The event took place at approximately 120 project sites spanning Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington and Yamhill Counties.
“As one of the nation’s largest Earth Day events, SOLV IT marked 20 years of improving the livability of the Metro area today. SOLV IT brings together community organizations, businesses and government for a day of restoring our urban and natural areas in a manner that makes us all proud”, said Dianna Smiley, SOLV’s Executive Director. “The commitment that our sponsors, partners, and volunteers demonstrate to our metropolitan region every year through SOLV IT is remarkable and part of what makes the area such a marvelous place to live.”
With SOLV support, volunteers completed the following impressive list of accomplishments:
· Sent 198,090 pounds of mixed waste to be recycled, re-used or properly disposed of in area landfills.
· Collected 159,205 pounds of green waste, including yard debris and invasive, non-native vegetation.
· Collected 345 tires.
· Removed 19,800 pounds of scrap metal.
· Removed 1 abandoned travel trailer.
Total: Collected an estimated 376,545 pounds (approximately 188 tons).
In addition, volunteers planted 2,173 trees, shrubs, and native plants in parks, on school grounds and in natural areas. Other maintenance activities included spreading mulch, maintaining trails and creating community gardens.
Sixty-eight PGE employees, family members and University of Portland students gathered at Peninsula Crossing Trail in North Portland under the direction of the Portland Parks & Recreation Department and the Friends of Peninsula Crossing Trail to remove graffiti and litter, cut out invasive English Ivy and Himalayan Blackberry, and maintain the trail.
At the Metro Native Plant Center in Tualatin, AmeriCorps volunteers and Portland State University students removed fencing and invasive blackberry to prepare the area for native plantings. They also installed five artificial coyotes to deter deer from eating the native plants.
Portland General Electric was the Presenting Sponsor of this year’s event. Major Sponsors were ClackamasCounty, Clean Water Services, Metro and Warn Industries. The Supporting Sponsors were First Tech Credit Union, Hawthorn Farm Athletic Club, IBM and Waste Management of Oregon. City of Fairview was a Site Sponsor, and the Media Sponsor was KINK fm 101.9.
Katherine and Jack Jeter said,
April 20, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Congratulations to all the River Rats who cleaned up the Sandy River. We have done that on the French Broad in NC, and the work was nasty and the waste was vile, but the results were rewarding. To Mark and Michele and all the rest, hats off! Katherine and Jack Jeter, Spartanburg, SC