Saline River Mini-Clean Up - Thursday 11/29/12

[Cowper]

For any other jobless river-bums out there, I think I'm going to take advantage of the sunny weather tomorrow and do a mini-cleanup somewhere, most likely the two miles of river above Lyle Park in Benton. It's a short stretch; so I'm thinking why not enjoy the warmest part of the day?

I suggest a tentative meeting at Lyle Park at High Noon.

If nobody responds, I will divert to Little Maumelle in Little Rock instead, since that is an even shorter drive for me and allows an "in-and-out" paddle with no need to set shuttle.

In Other words:

I AM GOING SOMEWHERE. This part is "for sure".

IF I DON'T KNOW YOU'RE COMING TO LYLE PARK, I may not show up there. So either post up or call/text my cell phone at fiveoh 147two9zero38 so you don't end up waiting there, and I'll make sure that everyone is kept up on any last minute plan changes.

[Half Ton]

Nice style!

Cowper, please keep a journal or list of your cleanup efforts for this year with amounts and pictures. I would like to nominate you for a few awards.

Thanks for all of your continual efforts!

[we66erno1]

Between last Friday and the few other times we've done clean ups together. I know he has at least 2 tons. That's just what I've witnessed and been a part off. And those last few trips on the Cadron put such a dent in the debris there, he's branched out to other waterways.

Pretty sure Cowper retiring may be the best thing that ever happened to the state's waterways.

[Cowper]

Back at you John, I heard you were out picking up today too!

With nobody else able to shake off work, and various errands delaying my launch time, I went to plan B, the trip closer to home. You wouldn't guess it from the pictures, but I was absolutely amazed with how clean Pinnacle is looking. Other folks have been picking up the bottles, cans and other items that are in adbundance on too many of our rivers and streams. By far most of the items I retrieved were on the side of the creek not normally accessible from the trails.

Doug, Jon: The ranger (Lori) came by as I was unloading, and had noticed the trash we picked up earlier this week. She also recalled the porta-jon retrieval earlier this year. I gave her an estimate of the hours we spent collecting trash which she is going to add to their volunteer hours database.

First of two loads

The day's haul

1 barrel (45 gallon?), one trailer tire, one 4-wheeler tire, small piece of a third tire, steel fence post, several pieces of rebar, large piece of carpet, wooden table, one tennis ball, one hardball, metal bucket, and about a bag of trash including several glass bottles. And two of those "bird killing" fish hooks - the kind hanging from a tree limb.