Monday, April 20, 2009

Table Rock Lake Shoreline Cleanup!




Finally, a beautiful day to be at the lake. In April 2007 the weather was horrid; April 2008 the water level for Table Rock Lake was so high the shoreline cleanup was delayed until September! This year perfect weather. My team, cadets from Branson High School Air Force Junior ROTC, met at Long Creek Campground around 8:30 AM and worked until 11:30 AM. We collected 24 bags of trash and 3 tires. After our hard work, we grilled hamburgers and enjoyed the fruits of our labor: a clean view of the lake shore. Statistics from the cleanup: over 1000 bags of trash, 300 tires, and a truck load of beer bottles from ONE public access area!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Kansas School for the Deaf

            In March of 2009, I had a very unique experience. The Kansas School for the Deaf signed up for the Blue River Watershed Association’s T.R.U.E. Blue program. Preparing for this lesson was different than most. Most of the prep time was spent working on talking slow enough so the translator could keep up. Then there was the idea of how they were going be able to run the experiments.

            Finally the day come for the first lesson. It took more time than normal, but it was a great success. By going slower and having more time it allowed more of the information to sink it. The students were asking questions and became aware and concerned about the issues facing the Kansas City water.

            When we came back for the kit training that is where the true test came. 30 students were crammed into one lab room. Groups were spread out all over the room so communication was hard. The whole class was taught while standing on a chair so that everyone could see.

            At the creek the students had to crawl down a steep bank to get to the water. Even though the kids were getting frustrated each was ecstatic about the experience. Everyone wanted to get into the water and figure it out. The group I was working with was amazing. They remembered the steps and worked through the test with minimal help from me.

            Once we were finished the students wanted to talk to us so much. They were inspired by the science and wanted to know how to get careers in hydrology. The teacher told us later that after we left each day, they would talk for hours about water quality.

            In an urban area that actual number of students reached is very minimal. No body thinks they are the problem. But each of these students cared and wanted to know how they could personally make a difference.

Mona Terrace Habitat Restoration

On Saturday, April 4 the River des Peres Watershed Coalition successfully restored the native habitat along 200 ft of the banks of the River des Peres. The activity started at 9 am and by 10 there were over 20 volunteers removing euanamous and bush honeysuckle from the banks. At noon there was a break for lunch and then the planting began. 10 species of native trees and 10 species of native perennials were planted with a total of almost 800 native plants planted.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Watershed Festivals a HUGE success in Southwest Missouri!

In March, I finished my volunteer stint with local watershed festivals. We exposed over 3000 local fifth graders to water quality. Last November, I helped with the two day Barry County festival. This year started with five days at the Christian County festival, one day in Stone County, and the school year was completed with a two day festival in Taney County. The post survey completed by the fifth graders, over the last several years, indicated they weren't retaining much of the information presented in the "Build Your Own Watershed" activity. Guess which activity I was presenting? The pressure was on! For the Christian County festival, it was decided to present the information differently. After two days, I found the students were not engaged with the activity. So on the third day, I brought a special friend with me to help. I brought Slimy, a yellow, plastic frog! (Can you find him in the picture?) Slimy was a HUGE hit. I liked watching the students interact with Slimy and care about what was happening in his watershed. He will definitely be back next year!



Sunday, April 12, 2009

Trash Bash - Creve Coeur Creek


These dedicated volunteers worked very hard to help clean-up Creve Coeur Creek during the Trash Bash on March 28. They filled a dumpster in addition to gathering up a large pile of plastic strapping. This was part of a larger effort being held at many different sites across the St. Louis area. The boyscouts on the left did not let the rain and cold scare them away. Their biggest challenge that day was deciding who had to pick up the dirty diaper they found.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Business Expo in Anderson, MO


The Elk River Watershed Improvement Assoc. had a booth at the Business Expo in Anderson on March 28th. The day started off sleety and snowy, but I think that helped bring in that many more people- they had a great turnout! Drew and I spent the day talking to many people about our watershed and the Stream Team program. I talked to quite a few 5th graders that remembered me from either the Water Awareness Festival or the follow-up classroom presentations, and they were excited to get involved with a stream team activity! ~Bev

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

March Madness


Well we kicked off March with our first big clean-up of the year, the Mari-Osa Dump Clean-up part 2! We have now been working on this massive eyesore of an ancient dumpsite on the beautiful Osage River for two year's in row, and the stories & photos from this adventure are just priceless! Check them out on Missouri River Relief's river notes blog: http://riverrelief.blogspot.com/search/label/Mari-Osa

There's even a fun video Jim Karpowicz made of the ingenious trash flume some of our crew members designed to shoot the mass of broken glass & tin cans down the hill in a quick & efficient manner. It's pretty funny, here's the link to the page from our website, scroll all the way to the bottom for the video: http://www.riverrelief.org/event/mari-osa-dump-part-2/ Lot's of fun event results posted there too!

It's been a busy Spring so far, and it doesn't look like we'll be giving our clean-up efforts a rest anytime soon. So stay tuned in for more fun stories & future event postings! www.riverrelief.org

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Confluence Trash Bash - What's a Little Rain?


Steady rain and cool temperatures were no problem for about 300 volunteers who turned out on March 28 to pull trash from streams and rivers around the City and County of St. Louis. We spread out to a dozen locations throughout the region, including Creve Coeur Lake and Creek, Cowmire Creek, Coldwater Creek, Maline Creek, Watkins Creek, North Riverfont Park on the Mississippi River, the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi River, and the Missouri River on boats operated by Missouri River Relief. After about 3 hours of work, the dumpster above was full of trash, another was full of tires, and one more was about half full of scrap metal. A few hearty souls even stuck around for a rain-soaked BBQ lunch. View more photos of the soggy adventure at http://www.flickr.com/photos/26071682@N05/sets/72157616136896548/ Many thanks to the many sponsors and partners, and most of all to the hearty volunteers!