RIVERS -- I'm getting bits and pieces of good news from the late September Upriver Scrub, in which volunteers rallied to clean-up portions of the Spokane River.

While the annual Spokane River Clean-up was on hiatus this year, the upriver activities, a regular event by the Northwest Whitewater Association, attracted dozens of helpers.

A few highlights:

• West Valley's City School collected and COUNTED 10,000 cigarette butts.
• The Lands Council crew, which included volunteers from Whitworth University, planted more than 300 native plants.
• Hundreds of pounds of trash were collected and hauled away.