Syringes, sex toys and several sets of Scrabble letters – it may be a bizarre alliteration to you but to us it was another Saturday spent servicing Spokane’s finest natural resource, the Spokane River. DTE stepped out from behind the digital veil over the weekend to volunteer as team leaders for the 6th Annual Spokane River Clean-Up. Aided by two co-team leaders, Nice Nancy and Crazy Matt, and approximately 50 other volunteers – Team Black Bear stormed the banks of the Spokane River just south of High Bridge Park for a good hour and a half of hardcore garbage extraction and burr picking. In the end we nearly pieced together enough parts for a fully operating motor vehicle, a full campsite for our next trip to the Gorge and a sufficient amount of erotic paraphernalia to make Larry Craig blush.
With a quantifiable outcome, the level of success of an event becomes easier to define. And that is part of what makes the River Clean-Up such an intriguing event. In all, over 800 volunteers and forty plus team leaders combined to recover eight tons of garbage and recyclables from the banks of the Spokane River in and around the Greater Spokane River Gorge, the confluence of Hangman Creek, Upriver by the Iron Bridge to Mission by Avista and the outlining areas of each – Earthworks Recycling processed 4,101 pounds of various recyclables, from scrap metal to glass and plastic, up from 2,500 pounds recycled last year. 12,020 pounds of trash, or 6+ tons, were hauled to the Spokane Waste to Energy Plant, an increase of 3,000 pounds over the 4.7 tons picked up in 2007.
These numbers answer common doubts such as, “I’m only one person,” and validate the phrase, “every little bit counts.” When you can pick up a cigarette butt at 11 a.m. and hours later symbolically see that expressed by factually tons of trash, well, that is an eye opener. The other element that adds to the Clean-Up’s appeal is the visibility it provides – sort of a full disclosure. Kind of like when you’re a kid and your parents warn you of what not to be by pointing out people they went to high school with who turned out to be lowlifes. And that’s what’s really important – the grooming of a conscious future, the taking hold of the fate of the Spokane River. Never is that act more visible than at the River Clean Up.
Team Black Bear was handed a large group of 50 or so volunteers – mostly represented by the Spokane Geo-Cache club, Lewis and Clark High School and friends of DTE. To the say the stretch of river we were handed was modest would be an epic lie. Armed with trash and recycle bags, rubber gloves and unbridled enthusiasm – Team Black Bear took to the great unknown. Within five minutes we had collected syringes, ten minutes porno and within thirty, the deadliest catch of River Clean-Up lore, a sex toy so large jaws dropped. The rest of the hour or so went fairly smooth and PG rated. We cleaned up a deserted camp that at one point had to be the home of the Spokane homeless board game society. Then we later stumbled upon an occupied camp whose tenant, upon learning what was going on, kindly offered to help clean around his “neighborhood.”
Spokane River Clean-Up organizer and Friends of the Falls Executive Director Steve Faust said it this way: “For me the true measure of our success is how well we affirm and reinforce the value of stewardship for our river, spread that message to the broader community, and have fun doing it.” By that measure DTE can proudly claim success for another wonderful Spokane River Clean-Up. See you all next year.
The DTE blog is committed to reporting and sharing environmental news and sustainability information from across the Inland Northwest.
Syringes, sex toys and several sets of Scrabble letters – it may be a bizarre alliteration to you but to us it was another Saturday spent servicing Spokane’s finest natural resource, the Spokane River. DTE stepped out from behind the digital veil over the weekend to volunteer as team leaders for the 6th Annual Spokane River Clean-Up. Aided by two co-team leaders, Nice Nancy and Crazy Matt, and approximately 50 other volunteers – Team Black Bear stormed the banks of the Spokane River just south of High Bridge Park for a good hour and a half of hardcore garbage extraction and burr picking. In the end we nearly pieced together enough parts for a fully operating motor vehicle, a full campsite for our next trip to the Gorge and a sufficient amount of erotic paraphernalia to make Larry Craig blush.
With a quantifiable outcome, the level of success of an event becomes easier to define. And that is part of what makes the River Clean-Up such an intriguing event. In all, over 800 volunteers and forty plus team leaders combined to recover eight tons of garbage and recyclables from the banks of the Spokane River in and around the Greater Spokane River Gorge, the confluence of Hangman Creek, Upriver by the Iron Bridge to Mission by Avista and the outlining areas of each – Earthworks Recycling processed 4,101 pounds of various recyclables, from scrap metal to glass and plastic, up from 2,500 pounds recycled last year. 12,020 pounds of trash, or 6+ tons, were hauled to the Spokane Waste to Energy Plant, an increase of 3,000 pounds over the 4.7 tons picked up in 2007.
These numbers answer common doubts such as, “I’m only one person,” and validate the phrase, “every little bit counts.” When you can pick up a cigarette butt at 11 a.m. and hours later symbolically see that expressed by factually tons of trash, well, that is an eye opener. The other element that adds to the Clean-Up’s appeal is the visibility it provides – sort of a full disclosure. Kind of like when you’re a kid and your parents warn you of what not to be by pointing out people they went to high school with who turned out to be lowlifes. And that’s what’s really important – the grooming of a conscious future, the taking hold of the fate of the Spokane River. Never is that act more visible than at the River Clean Up.
Team Black Bear was handed a large group of 50 or so volunteers – mostly represented by the Spokane Geo-Cache club, Lewis and Clark High School and friends of DTE. To the say the stretch of river we were handed was modest would be an epic lie. Armed with trash and recycle bags, rubber gloves and unbridled enthusiasm – Team Black Bear took to the great unknown. Within five minutes we had collected syringes, ten minutes porno and within thirty, the deadliest catch of River Clean-Up lore, a sex toy so large jaws dropped. The rest of the hour or so went fairly smooth and PG rated. We cleaned up a deserted camp that at one point had to be the home of the Spokane homeless board game society. Then we later stumbled upon an occupied camp whose tenant, upon learning what was going on, kindly offered to help clean around his “neighborhood.”
Spokane River Clean-Up organizer and Friends of the Falls Executive Director Steve Faust said it this way: “For me the true measure of our success is how well we affirm and reinforce the value of stewardship for our river, spread that message to the broader community, and have fun doing it.” By that measure DTE can proudly claim success for another wonderful Spokane River Clean-Up. See you all next year.
