They came with gloves and boots, they came with grappling hooks and canoes...spirits high and determination firm. Ninety-five volunteers of the Black River Action Team scoured bed and banks to remove hundreds of pounds of garbage, debris, and trash from the Black River. It was the 14th Annual RiverSweep, and people of all ages turned out in Springfield, North Springfield, Cavendish, Proctorsville, Perkinsville, Ludlow, and Weathersfield to help.
Many thanks to the individuals and families who stepped up to the plate, some for the first time and many long-time BRATs; some from just around the corner and others from far away. Greatly appreciated as well was the help of two groups of Boy Scouts who are always eager to lend a hand, and the return of the Springfield High School team -- the "roughneck crew." Folks walked the roads along the river, wooded trails, and parking lots to gather trash and garbage before it could find its way into the water. Volunteers in canoes pulled heavy items from the bed and banks in Springfield and Cavendish, lugging their haul up the banks to collection points for disposal.
In Proctorsville, employees of Mack Molding joined members of the Cavendish Recreation Department and individual BRATs to paddle a long stretch of the river from Ludlow to Mack Molding in Cavendish, gathering trash along the way.
Volunteers came from the towns along the river as well as from Claremont and Warren NH, and Saxtons River, Weston, Baltimore, Windsor, and Rockingham VT and hauled out tires, 6 shopping carts, sheets of metal roofing, food trash, cans and bottles, traffic cones, styrofoam, a Rutland Herald vending box, car parts, a television, a vacuum cleaner, a folding chair and some patio chairs, piping, a metal drum, 5-gallon buckets, a teacup and saucer (!), railroad ties, a tire jack, an antique license plate, a beachball, an artificial Christmas tree, and even the kitchen sink!
While many tires made it out of the water and off the banks (even an enormous truck tire, thanks to Cody Peterson of the SHS football team!), more than a dozen tires remain embedded in the sediment at the bottom of the lowest reaches of the river. Springfield resident Rebecca Tucker and her brother, Henry Woodbury of Athens VT, marked tires for retrieval by dropping home-made weights with "bobbers" made from empty milk jugs. Steve Matush and Barbara Schultz of Springfield paddled canoe and kayak over to retrieve the tires, but were thwarted as the tires were all solidly buried in the silt in chest-deep water. Tire extraction is a project for another day and a larger team, with grappling hooks and a flatter-bottomed boat.
Trash was hauled to the Ludlow Transfer Station, tires to the Springfield Recycle & Transfer Station; the Youngs of the Springfield Plaza donated space in their dumpsters for trash from the Springfield "collection," and scrap metal was dealt with by Mack Molding and Bruce Herforth in Ludlow and by Clear Away Rubbish & Removal in Springfield. Scrap money will benefit the Black River Action Team.
The 15th Annual RiverSweep will be held on September 6, 2014 -- as usual, the first Saturday after Labor Day. Mark your calendar now so you can help the BRAT to "be part of the solution" and lend a hand to keep the Black River clean and healthy.
PHOTOS: first bunch are by Kelly Stettner, last one is by Steve Ewald. Maybe you can make a collage of them?
Photo 1: Alan Woodbury gathers garbage along River Street.
Photo 2: Bryce Honeywell shares his find, including a vacuum cleaner.
Photo 3: Scouts breaking for "tea."
Photo 4: Tom Ross and his find below the Lovejoy dam.
Photo 5: JUNK
Photo 6: Austin Mallan with one of the many tires collected in Springfield.
Photo 7: Quadale Jackson rests after rolling a pair of tires across Chester Road to the Plaza.
Photo 8: Keegan Ewald (left) and Derek McNamara (right) show off part of the haul in Cavendish.