8th Annual Boardman River Clean Sweep Event

 

The weather on Saturday, June 2, 2012 was lousy to say the very least.  Rain, wind, cold and ery high water.

 

2 of the 6 sections were impassable due to very high water and low bridges.  The river was running at 300CFS and rising.  Normal flow is less than 200CFS.

 

4 sections were completed.  The other two were completed on the following Thursday and Friday by Lois, John H. and a very dedicated troop of BRCS / TAPC people.  THANK YOU! Lois and John.  Your idea to do the makeup trips later in the week was a good one. You followed through by offering to lead the trips and the response from our TAPC club members and few non-members was amazing.

 

The amount of trash collected during the river segments of the BRCS was minimal, which is a very good sign.  Most of the trash came from the downtown section and the recently lowered Brown Bridge Pond, showing us that our efforts upstream on the river are having a major effect on the cleanliness of the main portion of the river.

 

Most of the trash seemed to be there due to accidental deposits and very high winds and high water.

 

The people who use the upstream sections of the river seem to be taking better care to not let their stuff get in the river.

Downtown, we are not having as good a response from the public. 

 

It was expected that newly exposed bottom lands at the Brown Bridge Pond would be filled with old lost and discarded trash and we were not disappointed.  The crew had problems getting in and out of the pond due to the silt build up around the shore and the trash was removed before they got back to get a photograph but it was considerable according to the group leader, Jim Heffner.

 

The KHS students and leaders did their usual fantastic job of being where they were needed and pitching to do a lot of the hard work and dirty work. 

 

The downtown crews got a fair amount of trash from the river and the walking troops got even more.

 

The American Waste dumpster was left at the GT Conservation District for the entire week, so we were able to use it to deposit all the trash even though the sections were done over three separate days.

 

The picnic was terrific!  Pat and Steve and their friends did a great job.  The chicken was great.

 

I want to thank all the volunteers who worked on the projects, KHS - ODAC, the GT Conservation District for it's help and the use of the Nature Center's Oleson Pavilion, the Great Lakes Commission for the grant that made this possible, the ACA and Darden Foundation for their grants that allowed the BRCS to buy three canoes and a trailer for volunteers to use and all the sponsors of the raffle that made the BRCS, GTCD and the KHS - ODAC money for their respective organizational operating expenses.

 

It rained and the wind blew and the river was high but we all worked together to get this project done for our beautiful Boardman River. 

 

Thanks to everyone for being there for our Boardman.

 

Norm Fred

 

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A Monday Mourning! Yes, in spite of the weather not cooperating, we still had a very successful clean-up. Attached is the only photo (full strength) I had. We were really spread out on Brown Bridge Pond. Basically, I had four crews of two that worked from each end and both sides of the lake towards the middle, with one on shore walking the mud flats and the other in the canoe garbage barge. I covered the eastern/delta end. The mud flats were very soft due to the heavy rain. We had to leave a few bottles and cans out on the softest mud flats. If, we were lucky, we were only knee deep in muck and if we were unlucky we were waist deep crawling our way out on all fours.

 

 As always, the Kingsley Outdoor Club kids were a delight to work with. The bonus this year was some of their parents, also, helped. Most of them were not properly dressed for walking through muck, especially on a cold, rainy day. My crew consisted of:

 

Jim Heffner – Crew Chief

 

Dave Hicks

 

Judy Hicks

 

Maddy Almquist – KODC

 

Nicole Leedy – KODC

 

Garth Bogart – KODC

 

Derek Bosley – KODC

 

Cole Gabel – KODC

 

Lisa Leedy – Mother of KODC Nicole

 

Mary Bogart – Mother of KODC Garth

 

Dave Bogart – Father of KODC Garth

 

The crew was gone with their trash before I returned to the landing. I believe Boone picked up the trash bags. So, I am guessing that we had around ten bags of trash, mostly the typical cans, bottles, and fishing trash. Our repeated efforts over the last three years have really made a positive impact on Brown Bridge Pond. We did see the Trumpeter Swans with their five signets and two loons – no chicks. No snapping turtles nesting this year. I made sure all three grabbers were returned. Also, we had two walkie talkies – I returned mine and Garth was going to return his to Boone, as he forgot to return it before he left for work. A great picnic and wonderful raffle prizes. The door prize raffle for the kayak for the kids was a very nice addition.

My sincere, heartfelt thanks and appreciation for your efforts on behalf of the Boardman River, making it a  pristine, shining jewel! I really appreciate how it has become a family affair with David and Ellen being very invested in this very worthwhile continuing project!

 

Take care,

 

Jim Heffner

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June 7 & 8 - "Clean sweeping" the Boardman

Friday, June 08, 2012

 

Last Saturday the Boardman River was in flood stage, so several sections of the Boardman River Clean Sweep had to be cancelled.  It was not a safe situation.  Most paddlers find it tough to stop, land or find anything when the current is moving so fast that just about all you can do is hang on and the water is covering up all the trash.  As soon as we saw what was happening, John and I decided to reschedule the actual cleanup for the following week, in order to give the river time to return to its banks and to its normal flow levels.  Even on fairly short notice, we got an excellent turnout from local TAPC members who care deeply about our hometown river.

 

The lucky ones were:

 

Thursday (Shumsky to Beitner): Harold, Norm, Tracie, Bill, Fred & Judy and John & Lois (me)

 

Friday (Brown Bridge Dam to Shumsky): John & Rosario, Jim, Jocelyn, Karen, Gail, Tracie, Fred & Judy and John & Lois (me)

 

 Both days offered sunny skies and warm temps, so that anyone who had to step out of his or her boat to retrieve trash didn't have a problem with getting into the water.  We got help from a few innocent bystanders with hauling boats and gear at the accesses.  Several folks thanked the club for our contribution of the porta-potty at Shumsky.  Each day we came away with several large bags of trash, plus a few items that wouldn't fit into a bag.

 

Interesting finds were a refrigerator door handle, a nice cold beer hidden under a bridge (spotted by Tracie - who looks up? - and knocked down by Jim), and a full six pack of (what else?) Bud Light in a nice soft sided cooler.  Judy was the spotter, and Norm sent me into the fray to retrieve it.  He did apologize later for the covering of cedar leaves all over my shirt, and under my knees (a bit annoying when you're canoeing on your knees).  It was worth the sacrifice.

 

The largest items we found were wooden. Within the first two minutes of Thursday's trip, Norm spotted the brown and white "Shumsky access" sign in the middle of a mess of brush, and deftly steered me underneath so I could retrieve it.  We were paddling in a brand new tandem canoe (fondly christened the "mother ship"), and got along great.  harold hauled out the Wicksall Bridge sign in his wee lassie, and Norm returned to its rightful owner later in the day.  The flood last weekend had done its thing and knocked down several signs.  The little boy statue sitting on the end of a dock was high and dry on Thursday, even though a few days before, he had been up to his knees in the river.

 

Rosario spotted a blue jacket, which Tracie kept her eye on, Karen loosened from the log, and I yanked until it came free.  Great teamwork!  Alas, it was not a valuable garment, which we discovered when we saw the Nascar logo on the zipper pull.  John W managed to wrangle some nasty wooden planks filled with nails, and Jocelyn was there to take on larger stuff that others offered her as booty.  John H made sure nobody got into any dicey situations, and Gail tried her hardest to find the tightest spots to explore and look for trash.

 

Fred was quite amazing using a canoe paddle in his whitewater play boat (note to self: make sure that you have matching halves of any kayak paddle you put into the car).  And of course, his feet stayed dry.  Bill showed up unexpectedly; he hadn't been on a club trip since 2010, and forgot the hit "complete registration".

 

We encountered some wildlife: ducks, geese, dragonflies, and several friendly golden retrievers.  And the wildflowers are out in force; the banks were awash in purple and yellow irises.

 

A special thanks go to all the shuttle drivers: Tracie, Harold, John H, Jim, Gail, Jocelyn and Karen, who all stepped up to the plate to make the trips go smoothly.  Norm was also available with the trailer, and he took the trash on Thursday, while we took it on Friday - back to the dumpster at the Boardman River Nature Center.  The river is in great shape now, and I want to thank everyone who helped out.  Mother Nature thanks you too.

 

Report by Lois, photos by John H and Jocelyn

 

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Dear BRCS-NCF participants,

 

I tried to thank each of you for taking a day out of your Cherry Festival plans to work for the cleanliness of the Boardman River but in the confusion of keeping track of 7 canoes and all the associated equipment, I may have missed someone.  So, here it is again.

 

Keeping 30 excited people in line isn't easy but you all really helped by being professional and courteous and doing a fantastic job helping me to lead this event for the Boardman.

 

This was the largest BRCS-NCF event ever, thanks to the 12-14 Coast Guard people (some with their kids in tow) that arrived ready to work and ready to help with canoes where they were needed.  Canoes are an important part of this event and we can't do it without them. 

Our four canoes and our trailer were donated this year to the BRCS by the American Canoe Association, LL Bean, The Darden Foundation (Red Lobster), Adams Chapter of Trout Unlimited and with the financial assistance of Dr. Steve Fred of Bethesda Maryland and the Bethlehem Lutheran Church Endowment Fund of Traverse City.  Thank you to all of these great organizations and individuals for your help. This equipment  has been used three times so far this summer and will be used at least twice more of river cleanups this year. 

Thanks to Mike Nelson at Jay's Sproting Goods in Clare, MI for making a special effort to get us the canoes at a great price and to Mark and Val Miltner of the Pine River Paddle Center for helping us get the trailer in a timely manner.

We love our canoes and trailer! 

 

I want to thank the Great Lakes Commission for their funding – through the GTCD – for the June 2nd, 7th and 8th events and the NCF event as well.  Their funding allowed us to get volunteer T-shirts and have funding for equipment that we used for these events and will use for future river cleanup events.  Thank You GLC!

I hoped to not have to split the CG people up but it worked out ok.  Kyle Young, as always, was a huge help organizing the "troops" and getting them to the venue on time and ready to go.  The CG rocks.  Thanks Mr. Young!

 

Our diver, Steve King, showed up a bit late but it was ok because our Holiday Inn shuttle ran a bit long and we all got started at  the same time.  He did a fabulous job of bringing up some really nasty trash out of the depths of the river.  Steve, I hope you can be a "regular" for the BRCS-NCF in the future.  It was fun for us having you there.  I hope you had a good time, too.  Thanks Steve!

The Traverse Area Paddle Club people in both sections helped keep everyone together and worked with their usual tenacity to clean the river.  You volunteered to go where you were needed even though it meant, in some cases, not paddling with your friends.  Thanks to all that volunteered to clean the pond even though you were expecting to paddle the river. We, being "river" people, know your sacrifice may seem small to others but it was much appreciated.  Thanks John!  Marv! and Marlene!

A special thanks to Pastor Paul and Tom Christensen for coming out to help us.  Paul, we are going to make a paddler out of you if it kills us.  But if it does, you can do the funeral.  Thanks Paul and Tom!

Sally Brooks took some great pictures with a camera that she was not familiar with.  Thanks Sally!

Frank Lahde ran the shuttle and helped for over an hour after the event with moving canoes and kayaks around on the cars and trailer and helping me carry a canoe up a very steep hill.  Thanks Frank!

Thanks to Steve at the GT Conservation District who loaned us 2 additional canoes, 4 paddles, 4 long grabbers and a waterproof camera for the event and then came over to the storage barn to help me put them back into their regular storage locations.  Thanks Steve Largent!

David Fred managed his pond group well by bringing special tools to do some special jobs and organized a swimming team to do some steel removal from the pond.  I had hit that stuff last year with our power boat and I appreciate his and Kyle's tenacity in removing it.  Good going guys!  Thanks David!

All the pictures that I currently have are now in an online gallery and you can view them here:

 

http://www.brcleansweep.org/BRCS_NCF_12/

They have not been edited, so some are not so good but I will get them organized and put on the edited group on the BRCS website soon.    Kyle, feel free to send them around to the CG troops along with my thanks.

If any of you have pictures that you took, please email them to me in full size or place them on a CD and mail them to

Norm Fred - BRCS
10422 Peninsula Dr.
Traverse City, MI 49686

When I look at these photos and think back on the day, I marvel that so many people thought enough of the environment to come together at one place to work so hard and get so dirty cleaning our beloved Boardman.  Some people say, "Put your money where your mouth is." - but I say you put your bodies where your heart is. 

You people are the REAL DEAL.  There are none better!

Thanks again for coming and I hope to see you on the river again soon.

Norm Fred