Kansas City Missouri River Cleanup 2013

La Benite Park - Sugar Creek, MO
Saturday, October 5th, 2013

The 9th annual KC Big Muddy Clean-up was a success! The cleanup on Saturday, Oct. 5, was the second collaborative project between Missouri River Relief (MRR) and Healthy Rivers Partnership (HRP), a newly formed river-stewardship, not-for-profit organization in Kansas City.

Even on a chilly Saturday morning after a good soaking rain the evening before, over 280 volunteers teamed up at La Benite Park in Sugar Creek, MO to help clean-up 10 miles of the Missouri River.  Over 174 bags of trash were collected, along with tons of scrap metal, appliances, and other materials including a Jet Ski!

A huge thanks to our agency partners who provided boats at the clean-up to help shuttle volunteers: we were joined by the Mo. Dept. of Conservation and Burns & McDonnell, in addition to our 5. 

And it was also a real honor to have the Jesse Gochenour Memorial crew on board with their private boat, helping us clean up several small beaches full of trash below the Blue River. 

With the federal shutdown, the EPA and Corps of Engineers were not able to help out, but we saw some of our EPA and Corps friends in the volunteer crowd!  Many thanks & praises to Sugar Creek Parks & Rec, our bobcat operator Kevin, and to the North Central Neighbors for cooking & providing lunch! 

High school, elementary and college students showed up in full force along with church groups, environmental clubs, local fishermen, scout troops, corporate teams, and more.  Our annual Kansas City area clean-up is usually our biggest event of the year, and this was no exception.  What an amazing group effort! 

Thank You Kansas City!

After bringing the volunteers back for lunch the River Relief crew worked on hauling back all of the trash.  Check out the full trash tally below and photo essay on our Rivernotes Blog. To see photos from the event, check out our Flickr or Facebook albums.

It takes a real leap of faith to get down & dirty on the Mighty MO and we can't thank our Kansas City sponsors, partners and volunteers (listed on the right) enough for all of the support!

Education

The week leading up to the clean-up a small and dedicated crew of River Relief volunteers helped us put on 2 "Day on the River" education events for students from Staley High School and Benjamin Banneker Charter Academy of Technology.  Presenters from Lakeside Nature Center, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Missouri River Relief set up educational boothes, while half the student roated between boothes and a hands on river clean-up in River Relief boats.  "Day on the River" is sponsored by grants from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mo. Dept. of Resources and the Mo. Dept. of Conservation.

The Friday before the clean-up, River Relief also participated in a watershed festival organized by Healthy Rivers Partnership at Lakeside Nature Center.  Some of our long time and relentless volunteer crew members helped us present the "Recycle Relay Race", the "Trash Boat" talk, and the "Enviro Scape" at the festival interacting with over 160 elementary students from the region at each booth. 

All in all, we were able to teach over 230 students & teachers, conduct 6 service learning river trips and clean 5 miles of the Missouri River with the next generation of river lovers.  That made our trip to KC right there.  Many, many thanks to the folks in KC during that week that helped make it happen... Dave & Fran Stous, Bill Fessler, Jim Stewart, Patrick, Janie Becker, Laurie Ferretti and Kris Mattern.

More about the Healthy Rivers Partnership:

HRP is founded on the seven previous KC cleanups conducted by River Relief and grows from Kansas City’s commitment to water resources. HRP’s new Executive Director is Vicki Richmond, former program manager and development director for Missouri River Relief, and she remains a valued MRR crew member. Larry O’Donnell is also a long-time MRR crew member and he represents a bridge between the two organizations with his membership on the Board of Directors for both organizations.

The Healthy Rivers Partnership uses the power of partnerships to raise awareness of and connect people to healthy rivers through hands-on projects. HRP plans to take a variety of actions, including volunteer cleanups of trash, water-quality monitoring, invasive non-native species eradication and habitat improvement. HRP also provides learning opportunities such as the Missouri River Watershed Festival for middle school students, educational field trips and booths at community events.

“Missouri River Relief is very excited to work with a new organization that has a mission that aligns with our own,” said MRR Director Jeff Barrow. “I see this partnership as a positive example of how action-oriented groups along the river corridor can work together to improve the Missouri River and her communities.”

For more information or to schedule an interview, call:
HRP Executive Director Vicki Richmond, 816-812-5166
vicki@healthyriverspartnership.com

Trash Tally:

174 Bags of Trash!!

Plus...
11 Tires on the Rim
9 Tires w/o Rim
1 Jet Ski
3 Propane Tanks
1 Fire Extinguisher
3 Florescent Light Ballasts
1 Trash Dispenser
1 Hinged Pillow
1 Stroller
1 Cooler
4 Chunks O’ Styrofoam
10 5-gal. Plastic Buckets
5 Orange Traffic Barrels
2 55- gal. Plastic Barrels
1 Chair Frame
1 Camp Chair
1 Shower Rod
1 plastic sidewalk Ashtray
1 Rubber Hose
1 Car Bumper
1 Engine Cover
1 Gas Tank
2 Hubcaps
Plywood
1 Rubber Noodle
1 Plastic Slide
1 Ernie Doll (of Bert & Ernie)
1 Guitar Case
1 Soccer Ball
2 Basket Balls
½ of a Shopping Cart
1 Syringe
1 Chain Link Fence in pieces
Rebar
15 lb metal Counter Weight
10 ton Screw Shackle
1 7-ft Metal Culvert filled with Stryofoam
1 Metal Chest
22 yards of Heavy Barge Line
1 Fishing Pole
1 Boat Locker
7 Tent Poles
1 Swimming Pool Liner, Cover & Straps
1 PVC Pipe
Construction Fencing