We had 6 canoes and one kayak with 15 people for 4 1/2 hours cleaning and learning on the upper St. Croix River. Kacie did several educational talks along the way which the Boy Scouts and their leaders seemed to enjoy. (They even said they want to come back next year!) Finds included one lawn chair, a 40 gallon plastic barrel... and about
40 tons of garbage.
St. Croix River Cleanup Thank You!
The Friends of Wild River State Park (WRSP) wish to thank the 16 volunteers who paddled 7 canoes and one kayak while cleaning the banks of our St. Croix River on Saturday, July 17th. About a pickup load of junk was gleaned from the river. Notable items included a life jacket - in 2 pieces, flip flops (sz 11, in case you are interested), buckets, pails, soda and beer cans and plastic bottles, juice boxes, etc. The weather cooperated - our timing couldn't have been better: sunny at the start, the dark clouds and lightening held off until we got off the water and unloaded our trash. Spectacular wildflowers, along with Canada geese, bald eagles and a muskrat rewarded us on our journey downstream.
WRSP Naturalist Kacie Carlson, provided a brief billion year history of the river while we dined on watermelon provided by Kia Donais. Other volunteers (shown in the attached photo) included: Kia and Shawn Donais's daughters - Brinn and Nori, Dennis Johnson, Tessa Hill, and Jan and Dave Kozlovsky from North Branch; Tim and Ian Doyle from Pine City, Dustin's Gang of Four from White Bear Lake, JJ Kelley from Washington, DC, and Marty Harding and Gary Noren from St. Croix Falls. Thanks also to the WRSP staff for providing assistance with our break on the river, trash disposal, and canoe shuttling.
This report for 2011 was submitted by
Gary Noren - 651-214-1965 - Friend's Board Member
This cleanup is held annualy on the first day of the St. Croix River Association's River Awareness Week. Check www.stcroixriverassociation.org for other River Awareness events during this week.
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