Supporting the Big Muddy National
Fish and Wildlife Refuge
Picking up trash along the Missouri River.
Keeping the Missouri River clean is a constant battle. Friends of Big Muddy regularly schedules cleanups for the various units of the Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. In fact, our first activity when we organized in 1998 was to pick up trash at Lisbon Bottoms in Howard County. But, every time the river rises, it leaves new trash. And not every visitor leaves only footprints.
Friends of Big Muddy has teamed up with other groups to help, too. Every year, the Missouri River Relief schedules trash pick-ups along the Missouri River. Friends of Big Muddy has had teams for the past three years at the central Missouri cleanup, and we are already making plans for helping out in Kansas City and St. Charles this fall.
You can help! When visiting the refuge, please pack out your trash. And never throw trash or junk in any river or stream—it all ends up downstream with every rain. Finally, if you want to help with the trash cleanups, please contact us!
Some of our efforts:
Missouri River Relief 2001 cleanup (Easely)
Thanks to Amahia, Janine, Jeff, Johann, Susan, Troy, Xiou and special thanks to Jeff McFadden of Big River Tours for donating a boat so we could put in at Franklin Island, we cleaned up two miles of the Overton Bottoms Unit of the Big Muddy refuge. The area we cleaned up started at I-70 and stretched from the river back to the scour hole. We worked upstream, including the site where Missouri Department of Conservation would soon reconstruct the Taylor’s Landing access and the area within the new chute. Notable items include an empty 55-gallon drum, several tires (including two tractor tires), and lots of metal rebar and car parts from under the bridge (a matter of concern to all of us who drive beside these cars).
Trash barge with trash being sorted for recycling,
Missouri River Relief 2001.
Missouri River Relief 2002 cleanup (Hartsburg--Busch Landing)
Thanks to Amahia, Ben, Claire, Janine, Jeff, Kerry, Sarah, Torben, Troy, Xiou, and again special thanks to Jeff McFadden of Big River Tours for donating a boat, we cleaned up an extensive area downstream from Hartsburg. In addition to the main crew on the boat, we also had a raft and two canoes cleaning up the hard to reach places. Notable items include a Styrofoam dear head, several tires (one Claire dug completely out of the mud), a shredded mattress, and a misplaced trash can.
Members rest after gathering a boatload of trash along
the Missouri River
during the Missouri River Relief Fall 2002 cleanup
Missouri River Relief 2003 cleanup (Cooper’s Landing)
Thanks to Amahia, Claire, Cyrille, Dillon, Hayden, Kerry, Janine, Jeff, Peter, Tim, Torben, and Troy, we picked up over 2,500 pounds of trash—mostly metal after finding an old dumping site. Included were a refrigerator, two soaked mattresses we had to haul up to the road with a line attached to a SUV, most of a truck frame (leaving an axle and part of the frame for next year when the river washes a bit more loose), a still inflated tire and wheel, and one additional wheel. Friends of Big Muddy was also recognized for picking up the most trash of any group!
From hauling out two mattresses, to a refrigerator and 3 kitchen sinks, we ended up with 2,500 pounds of trash!
Missouri River Relief 2003 cleanup (Kansas City)
It was a wet day, but our team worked hard and cleaned up a good section of the river. Kansas City was notable for all the plastic water bottles in the trash, but we also managed to dig out a full bucket car seat that was buried up to the headrest. Thanks go to Amahia, Anne, Claire, Cyrille, Dan, Janine, Jeff, Jeff, Luc, Peter, Tim, and Troy.
Digging out the car seat. We were glad
the rest of the car wasn't attached underground!.
The Schedule for 2004!
Missouri River Relief has now issued a tentative schedule for 2004. There will be cleanups at at least six locations moving upstream, and Friends of Big Muddy intends to be there! Details haven't been worked out yet, but we will try to have a team at each location. The scheduled locations are:
Saturday, May 1st, Confluence State Park
Saturday, May 8th, Hermann (Note: we still need a team leader for this
cleanup!)
Saturday, May 22nd, Cooper's Landing
Saturday, May 29th, Glasgow
Saturday, June 12th, Lexington
Saturday, June 19th, Kansas City
Contact us to learn more about joining our team for these 2004 cleanups! Or, just send us an e-mail and we'll put you on the list to get announcements as we schedule our teams for these and other activities.