Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, IA 52353
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Iowa Outdoors: Project AWARE takes on the Iowa River
By Brett Reece, Iowa State Game Warden
Jul. 26, 2023 2:18 pm, Updated: Jul. 28, 2023 4:29 pm
The 20th annual Project AWARE was held on the Iowa River July 9-14. AWARE is an acronym for A Watershed Awareness River Expedition. For each of the past 20 years, a section of stream in this state has been cleaned through this project.
This year, 315 volunteers cleaned 58 miles of the Iowa River from near Albion in Marshall County to Koszta in Iowa County. The 58 miles encompassed Marshall, Tama, Benton and Iowa counties. Due to low water and a log jam, the section of river in Tama County from McCoy’s Landing north of Montour to Manatt’s Landing in the city of Tama was not covered in this project.
An average of 197 participants, including myself, were on the river for each of the project’s five days. Garbage and other man-made debris were removed from the river as volunteers paddled their canoes and kayaks down the river. Volunteers ranged in age from 4 to 80 years. Thirty-six percent of the volunteers were rookies to the project this year. In addition to Iowa, volunteers came from Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The event was sponsored by 136 entities.
A good time was had by all who participated and a feeling of doing a good deed was felt by the group. Playful banter and a feeling of camaraderie was seen on the river daily as we drifted with the current. Friends were made quickly as the armada of volunteers paddled down the river and walked the sandbars in search of trash. Friendships were made as volunteers conversed under shady banks to enjoy a well-earned shore lunch together. I for one thoroughly enjoyed meeting concerned citizens from different states who united in a common purpose. That purpose being leaving the river in a cleaner state than what we found it in.
All and all, the impression I got was that our Iowa River was relatively clean in comparison to other project AWAREs. An initial investigation appears to show that the trash removed from the Iowa this year was significantly lower than past projects.
Having said that …. this 20th Project AWARE removed a total of 21,360 pounds (10.7 tons) of trash and recyclables from our river. Recyclables removed from the river constituted 20,520 pounds or 10.3 tons. Of these, 96 percent were recycled. Tires removed from the river numbered 161 (5,180 pounds, 2.6 tons). Scrap metal weighed 8,780 (4.4 tons). Miscellaneous recyclables such as appliances, plastics, cardboard, pop cans, glass, etc. amounted to 6,560 pounds or 3.3 tons. General trash amounting to 840 pounds (. 4 tons) was removed and landfilled.
In my opinion, the most interesting item removed from the Iowa River this year was a large inboard/outboard fiberglass boat located about one mile downstream from the city of Tama. This boat was upside down and half buried in a sandbar. Volunteers dug this boat free and pulled this boat out of the river with ropes. Other oddities were also found and removed from the river. I lost count of the number of shopping carts that were removed. Evidently, it must give some oddballs a feeling of satisfaction to steal a shopping cart and to throw it off a river bridge. I observed that the tenacity of the volunteers to remove the smallest to the largest piece of garbage from the river was on full display daily.
The goal for everyone going forward is to keep the river clean for this and future generations. A clean river improves everyone’s quality of life. The choice is ours.