17th Annual RiverSweep Cleanup A Success

17th Annual RiverSweep Cleanup A Success

posted Sunday, October 9, 2016

The threat of rain didn't keep dozens of volunteers from signing up to walk and paddle stretches of the Black River in a four-pronged effort to clean junk from the bed and banks of our beautiful waterway. Intrepid students from the Cavendish Elementary School again stepped up to remove all manner of garbage from a lovely historic swimming hole. In partnership with the Town of Cavendish, the kids gained access on foot and their "findings" were taken to the town's transfer station for disposal. A separate crew of adults and teenagers paddled from the Paddock Road bridge down to Hoyt's Landing in Springfield, collecting tires, traffic cones, and even a water-logged old couch cushion from the soft bottom of the river. Rebecca and Aaron Weinstein, with son Kai, joined Jeff Semprebon of Claremont NH, and Mo Stettner with friend Alyssa Bangerter in getting "down and dirty" to haul out the heavy junk while wearing smiles.

Springfield Plaza once again hosted the HQ table for 34 volunteers working in the lower reaches of the watershed - Nancy Heatley of Weathersfield worked along Route 131 in that community, gathering multiple bags of litter and trash to bring back to the Plaza HQ; a crew of employees from Imerys not only manned the Ludlow HQ but also spearheaded the cleanup effort on the ground. The trash list included a lawn mower, lawn chairs, fencing, pieces of plastic roofing, 5 bags of plastic bottles, two dozen tires, a bicycle, a pink lawn flamingo, an entire cake, some 40 bags of household trash, a car jack, 3 hub caps, PVC piping, and more. The trash tally becomes part of the overall list of junk removed in the larger Source-to-Sea cleanup by the CT River Watershed Council.

The Rolling Resource Center was on hand in Springfield, staffed by Jan Lambert of the Valley Green Journal, offering a look through the microscope at various river creatures Jan had collected that morning.

Volunteers were kept hydrated through generous donations from Big Eyes Bakery of Ludlow and by Shaw's of Springfield; snacks were provided by Deep River Snacks; lunch was donated in Springfield by the Young family of Youngs Furniture and Appliance and in Ludlow by Goodman's American Pie.

The Black River Action Team thanks each and every volunteer (many new faces as well as lots of "return customers" this year), as well as all donors large and small. The following businesses and organizations appear on the back of this year's BRAT tee shirts: Acrylic Designs, Ascutney Mtn Audubon Society, Big Eyes Bakery, Black River Produce, The Book Nook of Ludlow, Cavendish Elementary School, Citizens Bank, CT River Joint Commissions, CT River Watershed Council, Deep River Snacks, Dr. Christopher Fauver, EJ Prescott, Endyne Labs Inc, Goodman's American Pie, HB Energy Solutions, Headquarters for Men, Homestyle Hostel, Imerys, Ink Factory, Java Baba's, Ken Saccardo, Lambert Auto of Claremont, LaRosa Partnership (VT DEC), LL Bean, Ludlow Farmer's Market, Ludlow Transfer Station, Message For the Week, Morning Star Perennials, New England Grassroots Environmental Fund, Okemo Mountain Resort, Okemo Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, Ottauquechee Natural Resources Conservation District, Precision Valley Communications, Saint-Gaudens National Park, Shaw's of Springfield, Springfield Pharmacy, Springfield Recycling & Transfer Station, State of VT ANR, Tina's Hallmark, TransCanada, Union Street School, Valley Green Journal, VT Charitable Foundation, Vermont Telephone Company, WCFR of Springfield, Woodbury Nursery & Landscaping, and Youngs Furniture & Appliance.

Photo by Jeff Semprebon: Mo Stettner with tires.

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