SEPTEMBER 3, 2009 ISSUE
Watauga and New River Big Sweep Cleanup September 12
Volunteers Needed
Help clean out trash such as old tires from the Watauga and New Rivers on September 12.On Saturday, September 12, canoes acting as trash barges will travel long stretches of the Watauga River and the New River. At the helm of the canoes—and in the water beside them—participants will scour riverbanks and beds for refuse, tires and recyclable litter. Volunteers for the annual Watauga and New River Big Sweep event are still needed and will be supplied with work gloves, life jackets, paddles and canoes.
“We’ll meet at a designated outfitter’s shop at 9:00 a.m. and the outfitter will already have talked with me about what sections people will be assigned,” said Courtney Waite, advocacy coordinator for the National Committee for the New River. “We use the canoes as trash barges, though there will be a lot of wading around in the water. The canoes transport the garbage, but the park helps us out by going site to site to pick it up. This is a huge help to us; the New River State Park staff are really great team players to pick up the trash. We expect to finish up around 1:00 p.m. and we are lucky enough to have Suzy and Terry Kepple offering a cookout for all our volunteers on the New River after the event.”
While this cleanup is local, the entire state of North Carolina is conducting Big Sweeps and each county has volunteers heading for the water on a variety of rivers and branches.
“This is one event where it is the more the merrier, ” said Waite. “Some volunteers are in their eleventh and twelfth time out with us and its great to have those folks. A professor from Garner-Webb always brings students on Friday and they camp out at the New River State Park. He brought 15 students last year and he’s doubling that figure this time. So we will have 30 students on a fun getting-to-know-you trip.”
Though grateful for the presence and help from the Garner-Webb crew, driving in from Boiling Springs, Waite would like to see more ASU students participate in the Big Sweep.
“This is my fourth year doing the cleanup and we’ve been doing it since the early 1990s,” she said, “We’ve almost lost count of the number of years and we have had so many dedicated folks helping even though it is a busy time of year for them. We would like to see more ASU students volunteering their time—though we know it is very tough for us to compete against football season and tough to get here Saturday morning if there is a football game.”
Amazingly, for most of the years, the event has been graced with balmy, dry weather.
“We have had good weather on the river and even though this is hard, wet, work, when your head hits the pillow at night you know you’ve done a good job and there is real satisfaction,” said Waite. “It really is a lot of fun.”
For those combing the waters of the Watauga River, participants can enter a contest for the largest item, the most peculiar piece of refuse and the most reusable item collected.
For people who are interested in volunteering for the cleanup, Contact Courtney Waite at
336-846-4871, courtney@ncnr.org or Wendy Patoprsty at 828-264-3061, Wendy_Patoprsty@ncsu.edu.
Watauga and New River Big Sweep Cleanup Results 2008
Still uncertain if you want to help make a difference? Check out the results for the Watauga and New River Big Sweep Cleanup totals for 2008.
For the Watauga River Big Sweep, covering an estimated seven miles of water, 48 volunteers fished out four tires, four trash bags full of recyclable items and 50 bags of garbage; no white goods were recovered and the estimated weight for the haul was 2,400 pounds. The 2008 results for the New River Big Sweep event consisted of 106 volunteers covering 35.5 miles, fishing out 120 tires, no white goods or recyclables and ending up with 44 bags of trash and an estimated weight of 3,280 pounds total. Not bad for some time spent on the river!
Help From Many
Also helping to keep our waterways clean for the Big Sweep are the following groups and organizations: River and Earth Adventures; Appalachian Angler; Foscoe Fishing Company; Upper Watauga River Keeper; Watauga River Conservation Partners; High Country Waste Solutions; Watauga County Sanitation; and Watauga County Cooperative Extension for the Watauga River BigSweep, while Rivergirl Fishing Company; Zaloo’s Canoes, New River Outfitters, Rivercamp USA and Riverside Canoe and Tube Rental sponsor the New River Big Sweep.
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