The BIG Muddy Experience

Hello from South Central MO! I’m Rosanna Hernandez and I am working with Top of the Ozarks, Resource Conservation and Development in Houston. I am the AmeriCorps Water Quality Specialist working with the Big Piney. There are eight RC&D’s in the state of Missouri and I am lucky enough to be working in my home town! The Resource Conservation and Development program helps people initiate, develop and maintain projects that protect the natural, social and economic resources in our local areas.

After a fun filled week of training, there was an optional event to attend that Saturday. To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Missouri Stream Team, MO River Relief organized a big clean-up for the Jefferson City River. Since I’ve never attended a river clean up, and soon I will be organizing them, I figured it to be a good idea to participate. It was such a great experience, I would recommend it to everyone. Obviously it’s fun to be on the river in a boat, but when you get off and start picking up litter, it’s very eye opening to see the imprint the we leave.

My crew, which was lovingly named Team ARGGGGH!, (pirate themed clean up) consisted of a group of high school girls and their sponsor, some sisters from the Jeff City area, and one veteran river cleaner. It was really cool to meet people from central MO that drove up to an hour on their day off, to participate! We all had a great time and felt very connected through the mud! We learned very quickly why people call it the Big Muddy. We had to walk on sticks and branches as much as possible so we wouldn’t sink! I am not what some may consider graceful in slippery (and smelly, might I add), mud.

We dispersed along our area which consisted of riverbank and forestry and collected our findings. What did we find, might you ask? Mostly plastic bottles, a few cans here and there, pieces of plastic, caps and bottle lids, Styrofoam pieces and cups as well as plastic bags. There was also a tin roof, a tire inner tube, and what we decided was a 100 gallon diesel fuel barrel (empty thankfully). A couple girls found it in the wooded area and we rolled out the barrel…

This clean up experience made me realize a few things.
1. Plastic disposable water bottles are a waste of money and plastic. Luckily for me, my tap water is better than anything that comes out of a bottle, so instead, I will use my re-usable water bottle and take an extra minute out of my day to fill it up. I'll also be saving some cash!
2. When out in nature, leave no trace. Pick up after yourself as well as others, it only takes a little extra time and how cool are you, helping the planet!
3. Always keep trash bags with you, you never know when you’re going to have pick stuff up or protect your belongings from muddy boots!