9/2/05
Missouri River cleanups set for Sept. 24 & Oct. 8
Get a glimpse of Lewis and Clark's river and help keep it beautiful.
JEFFERSON CITY-A coalition of citizen's groups, businesses and government
agencies is looking for volunteers to conduct a cleanup of the Missouri
River in the Boonville and Kansas City areas. Participants will get a rare
opportunity to experience a river that is central to much of American lore.
Missouri River Relief is coordinating cleanup events Sept. 24 between
Boonville and Rocheport and Oct. 8 in around the confluence of the Missouri
and Kansas rivers in the Kansas City area. Sponsoring organizations provide
boats, equipment and services needed to collect trash ranging from tin cans
to major household appliances. Citizens provide the labor.
Participants enjoy food and entertainment when the job is done, and a
festive atmosphere prevails throughout the events. Veterans proudly wear
T-shirts proclaiming their role in past river cleanups.
"These events don't only change the river," said Missouri River Relief
spokesman Jim Karpowicz, "they change the people who take part in them,
too."
Karpowicz said first-time participants are surprised at the river's majestic
beauty and the abundance of wildlife they see while collecting litter. Bald
eagles, ospreys, river otters, deer, turkey and a host of other native
wildlife can be seen on riverbanks and sandbars.
The central Missouri cleanup will begin at 9 a.m. Sept. 24 and conclude at 3
p.m. Franklin Island Conservation Area off Highway 40 in Howard County north
of Boonville will serve as headquarters for the event.
Boats will ferry volunteers to river banks and islands to pick up trash.
Other volunteers (including youth groups) will pick up trash along river
banks, trails and roads around Franklin Island.
River Relief will also organize an educational event for school children on
Friday, Sept. 23, at Franklin Island Conservation Area with river and
water-quality learning stations.
The Lewis and Clark Historic Park at Kaw Point off Highway 24/40 in Kansas
City, Kan., will be headquarters for the Oct. 8 cleanup, which also will run
from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Missouri River Relief will host an educational event Oct. 7 at Kaw Point in
conjunction with the cleanup, part of the ongoing Week of Water Celebration
in the Kansas City area.
Event sponsors include the Missouri departments of Conservation and Natural
Resources, Ameren-UE, Anheuser-Busch, American Compressed Steel, Bass Pro
Shops, REI Recreational Equipment, Tracker Marine, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
For more information, visit
http://www.riverrelief.org/cleanup.html or contact Missouri River
Relief, P.O. Box 463, Columbia, MO 65205,
riverrelief@riverrelief.org.
You can call 573/443-0292 from noon until 2p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays or
from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursdays.
-Jim Low-
Click Here To Return To The Previous Page