September 12, 2015 - Great Arkansas River Cleanup (NLR)

[Cowper]

September 12 is one of Keep Arkansas Beautiful's biggest coordinated events, the Great Arkansas River Cleanup. There are multiple locations around the State where you can find a river cleanup to join; this post is to tell you about just one of those.

The official cleanup time as posted by the KNLRB folks is 8:30 to 11 AM. However, since we have some folks coming in from out of town, I propose we just plan on 9 AM to Noon. I'm sure our help will be appreciated even if we arrive on "River Time" (especially given that we're also planning on working a bit longer...)

So, some specifics:

Date: Saturday, Sept 12, 2015
Start time: 9 AM or whenever you get there.
End time: Noon, or when Luke serves lunch, or when open rebellion occurs
Place: N34.7874 W92.308 (Burns Park boat ramp. Note, there are two, one for Victory Lake, and this one, on a side channel of the Arkansas River)
Type those coordinates into maps.google.com for detailed directions or to just see it on a map.

BRING GLOVES and your PFD.
BRING WATER (we'll probably have some drinks too if you forget)

Some of us are bringing motorboats for the heavy hauling, but canoes and kayaks will also be useful for either shoreline pickup or getting to one of our trash sites, which is only about 1/4 mile away. If you don't have or don't want to bring a boat, we can shuttle you via water to one of the collection sites, but bring your PFD so we can stay legal on the short boat ride.

Luke is going to be grilling dogs and burgers, so letting us know that you're coming will make it more likely that we won't run out of food.

Looking forward to it; those of you on Facebook probably know that Luke and Michael have already been out looking for some special "prizes" to add to the heap of trash we intend to collect!

[Cowper]

Since not everyone is on Facebook, a "trip report" of sorts is in order here, too.

We had what I can only call a VERY successful cleanup, with ACC members and associates making up 13 of the 55 participants in the NLR effort. We met all goals, which I would roughly list as:
1) Get trash off the island across from the Burns Park boat ramp (we got almost every bit of it, except for the really small pieces of styrofoam!)
2) Get the boat hull that Michael and Luke identified on the banks near Murray Park (the hull had no transom and couldn't really float, but we got it up on plane and rode it like a giant water ski over five miles downriver to Riverfront Park for disposal).
3) Eat hot dogs
4) Get a bunch of tires
5) Don't go home until the mosquitoes come out (usually near sunset)
6) Not destroy one of Luke's propellers. (Let's not talk about the hole in one of his pontoons. We just need a more complete list of parts to not destroy next year.)

We also got "bonus" items in the form of a water heater and two shopping carts. I can't easily post the photos here, but this link should allow you to browse a Facebook Album that has many photos from the day. Debbie also got to say a few words that ended up on the daily news programs. If you can find the ACC BOATR page on facebook, you'll find some additional photos posted there; I liked one taken by Chris Elkins so much that it is now my Facebook wallpaper. (It shows the boat hull under tow by the party barge, surrounded by our fleet of "destroyers" (the smaller motorboats)

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