Missouri River Relief is officially returning to the Omaha/Council Bluffs area to host a series of on-the-water Missouri River cleanups, engaging families and civic groups in stewardship along the banks. This series of cleanups will take place on May 21 - 23, 2021 on the Missouri River along the Omaha and Council Bluffs stretch.
This was our first official Flat Branch Cleanup sparked by Laura Semken's cleanup last year. Flat Branch Creek was the origin of the settlement of Columbia, Missouri because of its ideal low water banks. The beautiful creek is the reason we are all here today! Today, it drains a large part of central Columbia. We had 25 mighty volunteers wading through water, digging plastic bags out of roots and clearing trashy log jams along a 1.5 mile stretch of Flat Branch Creek.
Being able to do a clean-up on our home stretch of river brings us so much joy. Through sun, wind, rain, and cold, 99 dedicated volunteers and crew cleaned up along a 14 mile stretch of river near Cooper’s Landing over the course of 3 days, removing 5.5 tons of trash including 56 tires. Each day brought new trash treasures, tires and boatloads of bags to be sorted for recycling. Our volunteer crew spent 5 chilly days with us as we set up camp, scouted the river for trash, cleaned the river, and picked up camp at the end.
This was Missouri River Relief’s first clean-up with volunteers since the pandemic started and things certainly looked a bit different. Historically, our clean-ups in the St. Louis area draw more than 200 volunteers, all eager to hop onto boats and clean the banks of this beautiful river. Instead, over the course of 3 days, 53 volunteers collected over 166 bags of trash, 58 tires and 1.4 tons of scrap metal, totaling 5.4 TONS of trash removed from the river.
Due to COVID-19, this cleanup program was canceled. We are so grateful to the sponsors who have decided to continue their support by converting their event sponsorships to general operating funds for the organization during these challenging times. Please take a moment to visit our sponsors on the right column.
A roaring fire, bowls of chili, live music, muddy volunteers and lots and lots of Styrofoam were just a few of the sights around the beautiful Wilson’s Serenity Point during our Jefferson City Missouri River Clean-up on Saturday. Our volunteers removed 4.9 tons of trash from the banks of the Missouri River which included 41 tires and a staggering 176 large chunks of Styrofoam.
Doing a Missouri River Clean-up out of a new location can be difficult, but it gave us a wonderful opportunity to make new connections, see new places and clean up stretches of the river that we have never been able to before. 196 volunteers helped remove 4.3 tons of trash from the Missouri River.
We would be lying if we said that we weren’t a little disappointed that the weather stopped us from accomplishing the goal that we had set out to achieve. In between rain showers, we were able to remove around 1.5 tons of trash from the river.
From fabulous weather to being able to experience the demolition of Washington’s iconic bridge by river, we are so thankful that the stars aligned to create the best river festival and clean-up yet. Together, we removed 5.5 tons of trash from the banks of the Missouri River, half of which we were able to recycle.
Missouri River Relief really left their mark on Columbia Bottom Conservation Area this time around. The staff and crew were camped for a total of 4 nights and 5 days while we hosted groups, schools, organizations, and dedicated individuals and families for stewardship and education along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Even though we had higher than usual water levels to deal with, our huge group of 181 dedicated volunteers tackled the banks of the two rivers and searched high and low for trash that followed the high waters from 2015 and 2017.
