Harold Lassers led this project today. 11 people helped with the project including Marvin who ran our shuttle.
They all did a great job of planning and the volunteers that came did a fantastic job of working togther to get
some nasty stuff out of the river.

There was not a lot of trash and the river was in good condition but this section is heavily paddled by tourists
and locals and they did find trash in the river.

They all had a great time and we had no safety probelms on the river.

The Crew

Jacqui's Report:

The river wasn't high but it was relatively fast for the downtown section. The weather was glorious too. A great day
to be out on the river.

10 of us started at the Hannaa Park and I scarcely recognised it. The old rocky put-in has been completely demolished
along with much of the boardwalk that people used to fish from. I hope that means that we'll get a shiny new
fit-for-purpose landing.

In consequence there wasn't a lot of trash - I found a fishing reel winder handle, a can, a lure and some line. I don't
know what the others found.

As we went on down the river, Marlene, Irene and I ended up at the back - as usual! Irene sure does spot a lot of stuff.

At one point I noticed a large white egg on the bank just below a mess of twigs that could conceivably have been a nest.
On getting out and going to investigate, I saw another big egg in the middle of that mess so I reckon it was possibly a
goose nest since the egg was too big for a duck and too small for a swan. I put the stray egg next to the other and hope
that the nest hasn't been abandoned. (I'm attching a few photos of that.)

Marlene and I found separate dumps of glass and china. We each picked up the worst of them but left the rest or we'd
have been there all day.

Just after helping Marlene snag a can that was out of reach of her grabber, I noticed a piece of plastic underwater just
off the market place - and quickly wished I hadn't. It turned out to be absolutely enormous and covered in brown river slime.
All canoes having long since disappeared I managed to roll it up (yards of it) and stow it on Marlene's stern deck. It must
have made her kayak quite unwieldy.

The total haul of trash was a lot less than usual but still way more than I have seen on other cleanups this year. The usual
hotspots at Kids Creek and the marketplace were almost empty. Clearly the tourist season hasn't yet got going yet!

At the end there was an impressive haul for the trash cans which is always gratifying. The gang sternly instructed me not
to pick up any more trash from the river as I paddled back up to my bike since after all, the river was clean now! But 3
peieces literally floated past me on the way and a fourth was stuck on a branch inches from my path and clearly had
to be snagged. So much for a totally clean river!

Harold's report can be found here posted on the TAPC website:

CLICK HERE to see Harold's Report

Harold

Jacqui

CLICK HERE to see all the photos taken today

These projects are funded by grants from:

MI-CORPS

The Consumers Energy Foundation

National Cherry Festival Foundation

And private donors like you.