Conewango Creek Cleanup 2009
Conewango Creek Watershed Association co-sponsored the first Creek Clean up with Conewango Kayak and Canoe Rentals, LLC. on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. Sixty-seven volunteers came together to help clean up the Conewango Creek. Led by Tom Osborne, Cleanup Coordinator, 46 of them started at the Conewango Kayak and Canoe Rentals on Rte 62 North of Russell where they received safety briefing before donning their floatation vest and setting off down the creek in canoes and kayaks. The float trip took approximately 5 hours to cover the 8 miles from the canoe livery to the Warren Mall. A second crew supervised by Nat Welker, from the US Forest Service, and Gary Phillips, USFS Volunteer worked from the shore areas along Big Four Road. Other small crews worked from shores areas along the lower Conewango Creek.
The cleanup was a great success. The canoe crew collected 68 bags of trash. That is not all.
Between the two crews, they collected 114 tires out of the creek or on its banks. There were 16 pickup truckloads of trash altogether. Five truckloads of metals were also recycled. Items that were pulled from the creek were: 12 lead car batteries, 9 toilets, 3 sinks, 2 bikes, 7 TV sets, a can of leaking paint, a pool liner, and a myriad of other items.
There were also several other Conewango Creek Cleanup efforts giving us a total of 67 volunteers altogether donating 534 hours of their time to help clean up the Conewango Creek. That is an excellent community turnout. And we got some good publicity out of it. We attracted the attention of some other members of the community who thanked us for our efforts. The volunteers celebrated their accomplishment with a picnic afterward. A ravenous crew enjoyed a donated feast of hot dogs and fresh sweet corn and other foods and soft drinks.
