Blue River CleanUp

Father-son duo John Jansen(Jackson Co.) and Alec have attended the clean-ups together for now FIVE YEARS! Thank You and Congradulations!

'Twas a lovely sunrise- it lit one horizon and left the others black. Up it came- slowly, though swiftly and before I knew it, it was a giant pinkish ornament. The sky, from west to east, was an overwhelming display of every value of every color from pink and orange to the deepest blue and even a touch of green.

7am and Lakeside Nature Centre(LNC) was abuzz. Banners were being thrown and coolers were ready to be filled in preperation for the largest one-day river cleanup in the state of MO. Ive participated since I can remember, but this year is special. I was givin the opportunity to lead a group of volunteers on my own section of the river. The event has drawn anywhere from a few hundred people to almost a thousand annually for the last 18years. Volunteers are divided up into groups of 10-50 to clean each site. Sites are on the Blue River from Minor park(~redbridge) all the way tp the confluence (where it empties into the MightyMO)

(right) Pawpaw (I think) is budding now! Welcome Spring!

My site is in Swope-Just on the other side of the golf course from LNC. I loaded the truck first thing an filled the coolers of ice. Bill F made me useful scooping ice from the Dist.3 headquarters. The old maintenence buildings are pretty cool lookin!

To make a very long story short, I made myself useful around the center before volunteers began departing with their leaders. I learned that there were not enough vounteers and that my site was one of several that would not be cleaned this year.

I had surveyed the land for trash several months ago. Its a dump (literally!) Family garbage and commercial car junk litters the side of the road. A mattress dump is covering a gastank dump and our largest challenges (would have been) some 55gal steel drums and a KCstar newspaper dispenser-jacked for it's few dollars in coins. Oh well.

the center cleared out quikly and I emptied my truck. ran around helping with set-up for lunch before I hooked up with bill. We transferred to a Dumptruck that hauled a Bobcat. We visited the site on Blue river+ Prospect first and loaded two buckets of bricks from the end of the sidewalk near the river. We were to go to THE WALL and then over to teamsters to haul trash, but were told to go strait to teamsters. Of course we got lost on the way, but Bill is a damn good driver and manuvered the 60ft rig through traffic, u-turns and residential streets. We arrived at teamsters (45th and Cleverblvd) to be shewed off by the cops. Something had happened or something and the lot was packed with sirens and CSI vans. ????.

We regrouped and headed back to the center. Down Blue river prkwy was a constant line of volunteers and trash on the side of the road. It is impressive how much can be dimped in the matter of only a year!

The lunch line! The majority of volunteers participate with youth-groups and their famillies. We emptied the truck by hand and ate lunch before attending a Leaders meeting. After the Vickis organized the afternoon we set off again. back to prospect to retrieve a dump of roof-shingles. They were piled far out of the way and bill powed the little bobcat into the honeysuckle thicket . He took his first scoop of shingles and a small mouse sprinted away from the machine. I watched 'em go, but I dont think he ever stopped running from the monster that had just ripped his home into the sky.

Another few scoops revealed a skink, a hive of carpenter ants and a few priaire ringnecks. The bobcat was pretty cool. Some of the other city guys came for a while- 'fred' and 'applewhite' hauled trash from the road into their compactor. They often help out with our burns on the glades and with other swope activities. Very friendly and extremely helpful!

We filled the truck to near it's capacity and left few to no shingles. Maybe something beautiful will grow there.

On our way back we passed the firestone tire semi. Its filled pretty well with the rubber that we hauled from the banks and dumps of the Blue. Kinda sad that there could be so many.

Bill and I assisted in CLean-up (of the clean-up) until I split to help with the Santuary at the Zoo. We had crew on both sides of the river and transfered everybody with a single boat. The boat brought trash collected on the opposite side and fed it up a line of volunteers to be loaded on trucks and gators where it was taken to the nursery road. Our high-tech 2hour effort produced a heaping pile of crap- 10' in diameter and 5ft high!

(Left) Vicki Kraph- Woman of the hour! Vicki organizes a great deal of the Clean-up and is stuck taking the blame at the sign-in desk. She was lucky enough to get to enjoy the trash for a few minutes after lunch. (Down) A line of volunteers pass tools and trash up the slippery bank of the Blue. (Bottom)- our high-tech method of transportation from the Sanctuary to the Nursery where trash was collected.

A job well done. The river is cleaner for at least a few weeks and we will all gather again in a year.