Giving Back to the River or does any one give a............

[jclaudii]

Not that it may mean much coming from me...a non ACC member and not as active as I used to be in Paddling (got two wee one's now that take our time ). Anyway, one of my other organizations that I belong to that deals with dry land and geocaching have come up with a great idea to help get volunteers and such at events.

They came up with a POINTS SYSTEM. It's just now getting started, but basically it goes like this. If you show up to an organization sponsored event like a meeting you get x amount of points (say a 100). This meeting could be the quarterly meetings, classes, etc just helps show that the group is behind them. If you show up to a clean up event you get say 200 points.

Now the points will add up over time and you can then use the accumulated points in the ACC store for merchandise and/or potential sponsors/backers like certain stores etc. for gear.

People love free stuff, and giving them a way to get free stuff for free time is one of the easiest ways to do it. I'll let yall know in a few months of how it is working out, but so far on our latest event we had a camp out up on Petit Jean State Park and twice as many people stayed this year as compared to last year at lake Ouachita. Could this be to get the free points or to do their part....who knows...but it helped both the organization's outward appearance and the park!

[Half Ton]

Half Ton wrote:
Quote:


"Go participate in an organized cleanup once a year. It ain't that hard."

cold spring qouted
"I've been to a few. Not really worth it to put up with the personalities involved. I prefer working alone. I even have my own official stream team of one."

Kudos to you for starting a stream team. Hopefully, you can at least pull in some friends or family to help it grow and be more impactful all the way around.

Obviously your bad experiences do not relate to the stream pick ups that I do with ACC, Stream Team, or other partners.....

Reson being we beat the bushes, flood plain, and illegal dumpsites that don't get hit by many a cleaner upper. Plus, the organizers that I work with value a volunteer and don't demand where, when, or how they do the work. If they are that way, then I don't work with them because I look out for the volunteer. That's a pretty hard deal to beat. To top it off we always hook people up with free food and cool doorprizes to reward a volunteer for their hard work.

Heck, you might not have not been to the Mulberry clean up either since no one involved in that one is hard to get along with and they have nice refreshments in the form of beer and food at the end.

I am sorry that you have had a bad experience or experiences in the past, and I understand that some cleanups can have some hard to get along with people. BUT you shouldn't really sterotype the wholething just because of a bad experience at the ones that you have been to.

I see you tell people to help take care of hiking trails??? Do you think that many will know about helping if they do not see, hear, or understand the need to do so? Working in groups can help accomplish a lot of that.

Obviously, you value some resources that you use. That is GREAT! Most trail maintenance that i've seen as an oht member is done in groups. I however, prefer to get dead wood off the trail and fix washes on my hikes with my friends and have not participated in the group efforts to take care of the trais. So I understand where you are coming from and could do more to help out my self.

It is a shame, that there are a lot of users of the trails, rivers, lakes, and other resources of our state but not as many care takers.

One great way to encourage more care takers to be out there is to create impact when you do it and to educate others when you do it.

I don't have a gripe with fellow boaters or acc members about not coming to the cleanups that I help organize because the mostly always show up at one or the other and here or there.

I think most of the Northwest, Many of the River valley, and some from other places come out. And that is great because when I hear someone from another agency, or another organization say "what's up with the canoe club? they float the rivers but don't clean them up" or " The ACC is not a very engaged bunch" I know the difference because I have seen it.

But me taking pride and knowing that the club or fellow boaters do alot isn't enough to let others see or know.

Image is Everthing - although image may not be reality -

Obviously no one can do them all - nor should they as living life and being a care taker of friends, family, and personal enjoyment is also important.

0.02

John Pennington

[coldspring]

Half Ton wrote:
Quote:

It is a shame, that there are a lot of users of the trails, rivers, lakes, and other resources of our state but not as many care takers.


John Pennington

I'm involved the the Ozark Trail Assoc. up here in Missouri. You can literally spend ALL your free time working on trails, and there are some that have made that their life, it seems. One of my good buddies is retired, and is always working on the trails. One of his comments "I don't know why we work on the trails, nobody ever uses them." He spends a lot of time on the trails and he is right, when you're out on a beautiful weather Saturday, and there are no users it starts making you think You can look at the trail registers, and there aren't that many users. I would venture to say that some trails get more illegal ATV traffic, than they do hiker traffic. Wait, I'm on the wrong forum, oops, was just posting this ATV subject on another forum. lol Anyway, I think the Forest Service and Missouri Dept. of Conservation has started taken the Ozark Trail Association for granted, they will go out and damage the trail, w/o notifying anyone of their activities, to do what they do, and just assume that the volunteers will be out there to fix it up.

River cleanups probably spur some of the same sort of activity among the litterers, they just assume they can trash the place and someone will come along and pick it up. They probably think people get paid to do it. I know I've heard that before; "gee, you got a good job, getting paid to be out here on your own schedule" No, you doofus, I'm out here volunteering, I had to buy my own gas, equipment, etc.... That's actually one of the reasons I'm not picking up so many tires and big things, I can't really afford to damage my canoe anymore at this time, times are tough. Besides, nothing ruins a leisure trip, like deciding to pick up a nasty old tire and muddy up everything in your boat.

[Half Ton]

Well, that is an argument that can be made but I have seen enough litter bugs to know that they just don't give a $hit.

I've seen the same people leave their dirty diapers and beer bottles at a swimming hole only to return and leave more the next week.

The place where we play boatball on the West Fork is a prime example.

This is where having large impactful events that get news media are a great educational and promotional tool for educating others who would not have been exposed to the concept or learned any better.

VICTOR - no need to apologize to me about not making a clean up. I know how it is to be busy with a family, and how hard it is to fit everything that you might want to do into a day or a weekend.

No one can make them all, we can all make some. And if we are going to do it, we may as well do it together to get some good press for the club or for the cause.

[Victor Caballeros]

No, you doofus, I'm out here volunteering, I had to buy my own gas, equipment, etc.... That's actually one of the reasons I'm not picking up so many tires and big things, I can't really afford to damage my canoe anymore at this time, times are tough. Besides, nothing ruins a leisure trip, like deciding to pick up a nasty old tire and muddy up everything in your boat.[/quote]

This is GOOD and TRUE. I was on the War Eagle picking up beer cans and Bottles and i got a whirl of crap about it from the trashers thinking I was a poor MEXICAN needing money from the recycled cans. I was in good spirt and simply said I love this river and I don't want it to look like the RIO GRANDE and if I have to clean up after everyone that uses this RIVER I will cause this is the differnts between MEXICO and AMERICA we take care of our lands.

[Victor Caballeros]

OH YEAH ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Trashed reduced I think it was educational for them to understand

[Half Ton]

[ebell]

Victor,

That interaction is FUNNY. Thanks for your work on the War Eagle. One of my favorites.

Debo,

I try and hit the local clean ups every year. I hear what your saying and yes when one tries do put together any project and people apparently don't value it its very frustrating.

One thing I will point out is that the Mulberry River Clean Up is always very well attended. I don't know if its the door prizes, beer, or bar B Q, but there is always a ton of people there. Two years ago it was snowing and raining and lots of people still showed up. AMAZING. Fun is had and trash is picked up. WIN WIN.

Maybe other clean up leaders can take a page from Brad's book. He does seem to be onto something.

Kudos to all who do what they do when they can,

Eric

[fryingsquirrel]

I must apologize, because I don't make a lot of the organized cleanups, but nearly everytime I'm out on the water, I make it a personal point to stop and grab cans, bottles, bags, and tires. I have amassed a decent collection of broken fishing rods, too
The point I'd like to make is that just because I don't often attend organized cleanups, doesn't mean that I'm not trying to do my part in preserving this beautiful state that I call home. The organized cleanups I've been to have always seemed too hectic, or crowded. But if I can take my time, remain silent, see wildlife, and still leave a few tires next to the trash cans on my way out, I consider that to be a much better use of time.
I would like to offer a huge helping of praise to an unsung hero of Beaver Lake, and a man I'm proud to call a friend...Eric Esche, everytime he is out on Beaver Lake, the White, or any other bit of local water, I've always seen him go way out of his way to pick up trash. It's the individual efforts that don't get praise or publicity that are what makes our paddling community so great. I tip my hat to you, Eric. I tip my hat to John Pennington, Debbie Doss, Victor, Eric Bell, My Mom, Pam, And everyone else I've ever seen out picking up any little bit of trash just because they CAN, and it's the right thing to do. There is an old expression that goes something along the lines of "Character is defined by how you act when no-one else is watching." By that measure, these people have more character than any politician or pastor I've ever met. I want to offer my heartfelt gratitude to those who help out in small ways, who take the initiative on their own, who really do give a s**t.
Keep up the good work, guys, and I'll keep it going myself. And if I don't see any of you at clean-ups, then I (and I hope anyone else who reads this) will still know that you are still making a difference.

I would just like to post a little side note here: Opinions are like buttholes, everyone's got one, and they all stink. My opinion just now probably stinks to a lot of people, and it it does, disregard it.
That's my rant,
Jon Ellwood
Conway

[coldspring]

just because I don't often attend organized cleanups, doesn't mean that I'm not trying to do my part in preserving this beautiful state that I call home. The organized cleanups I've been to have always seemed too hectic, or crowded. But if I can take my time, remain silent, see wildlife, and still leave a few tires next to the trash cans on my way out, I consider that to be a much better use of time.

Amen! Sorry to pick out part of your quote, but you touched on another thing I observed. While it was wonderful; that the events were well-organized and everything, I kept getting this feeling that I was going ahead of the crowd and picking up about all of the trash before the others got on down the river. I'm not sure if they would have accomplished much w/o me there! lol When I set out to do a task, that's what I want to do, I'm not there to lollygag and socialize, I'm there to work.

I run into the same thing with hiking trail maintenance too. To some the work becomes too much of a social activity, and there's nothing wrong with that because it's all volunteering...but I think many are so INEFFICIENT. When I say inefficient, it's that they drive hours and hours, and use up a whole weekend, and in the whole ordeal they really don't get a lot of work done. Always thought it would be more efficient for some to pool some money together and pay someone else to do it, instead of them spending hundreds of dollars to go to an outing and doing $8 of work somewhere in the midst of all their socialization.

[Cowper]

I know, life goes on. But I would like to propose that since dozens of folks have just lost their lives in a flood, including many young children, that as a show of respect to those lost and those who loved them, we table this discussion and come back to it a few days, or maybe a week from now. There are things I'd like to say on this topic, but right now they seem pretty insignificant compared to the other stuff that is going on.

[unicorn]

I know, life goes on. But I would like to propose that since dozens of folks have just lost their lives in a flood, including many young children, that as a show of respect to those lost and those who loved them, we table this discussion and come back to it a few days, or maybe a week from now. There are things I'd like to say on this topic, but right now they seem pretty insignificant compared to the other stuff that is going on.

word.