River News & Happenings
Monthly Big Muddy Sessions
Our January Big Muddy Session will be special. We'll be viewing a documentary about the Missouri River 340 Paddler's Race, then hearing from racers and organizers. This special evening will be Jan. 13, 5:30-7:30 p.m at RagTag Cinema in Columbia. Click here for details.
Patagonia Posts MegaScout Video
Outdoor clothing company Patagonia was one of the sponsors for our 2006 MegaScout 754 mile trash survey of the Big Muddy. Now they've posted a fantastic film about the trip, produced by MRR crewmembers Charlotte Overby and Jim Karpowicz. Check out the video on the Patagonia Blog, The Cleanest Line.
MRR joins Americorps Stream Team Program
River Relief is excited to be participating in the Americorps Stream Team Assistant Program this year. We've hired one of our volunteer crewmembers, Melanie Cheney. She will be helping us and other area Stream Teams.
Vicki named Master Conservationist
Vicki Richmond, our Kansas City Coordinator, will be receiving her second big honor of the year. The Missouri Department of Conservation has named her one of the 2007 Master Conservationists. In addition to her work on the Missouri River, Vicki has been working for over 15 years on stream projects in the Kansas City area, especially with the Blue and Little Blue River Watersheds.
Congratulations Vicki!
MRR receives award from Open Space Council
On Sept. 20, MRR crewmembers Jeff Barrow and Melanie Cheney accepted the William T. Schock "Clean Water Conservancy" award at the Open Space Council's Meremec Basin Summit. The award recognizes MRR's commitment to water conservation across the state, and is a beautiful print of the pre-settlement St. Alban's bluffs by artist Bryan Dawes Haynes.
From the Bottom Up hits bookstores
MRR Coordinator Jeff Barrow spent the last year writing down Chad Pregracke's amazing story about the growth of Living Lands and Waters, the industrial strength river clean-up and restoration organization that inspired Missouri River Relief.
The book has been published by National Geographic. Check out www.fromthebottomup.org and www.livinglandsandwaters.org
Water Trail website is online
Missouri DNR's Bryan Hopkins, a muddy water veteran, has been hard at work developing a web guide for Missouri River paddlers, including an interactive map of basic paddler info. Check out the website.
71 tons of trash in 2008!
&
over 10,000 volunteers since 2001!
Missouri River Relief crew and Bayer employees celebrate a successful Project Blue River Rescue at the mouth of Kansas City's Blue River in April. photo by Melanie Cheney
2008 was one of those years that proves if you love to work on the river, you need to learn to roll like the river does. Flooding and erratic river levels knocked our schedule around a bit, but that didn't stop this crew of river cleaning volunteers from getting the good work done. And we left the Big Muddy a cleaner place and introduced her to new friends.
Plus, we finally jumped over the 10,000 volunteer mark since we started in 2001! It just goes to show how much you can accomplish when people are willing to work for it. Thanks to everyone who's helped over the years!
We hope you'll join us next year at a rivertown near you. Check out our 2009 schedule and we'll see you on the river!
Click here for more details on our 2008 results»
Click here to check out our impressive 2008 Trash Tally»
Another boat load of trash rolls into the La Benite ramp at our October 4 clean-up in Sugar Creek, MO.
photo courtesy of Jill Hamilton Anderson (NPS)
La Benite looking a lot cleaner!
Our last big clean-up of the year was October 4 at La Benite Park in Sugar Creek, MO, just east of Kansas City. 411 volunteers came to help out on a beautiful fall day. They picked up an estimated 9.9 tons of trash!
Click here for photos, results and a trash tally on our River Notes Blog »
Click here for a report on the clean-up and Missouri River Watershed Festival (pdf) »
Confluence Clean-up a success!
168 volunteers came to the Confluence on September 13 to help clean-up the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Together, they removed 65 tires, 5 refrigerators, a Sit & Spin and much more - over 5 1/4 tons in all!
Check out our blog for results, stories and photos »
Click here for a results report (pdf) »
MRR crewmember Jen Courtney and Francis Baum of Boeing Employees for Environmental Protection spent all afternoon digging and moving this ridiculous heavy equipment tire out of the mud by the 367 bridge (with help from several others)
photo by Melanie Cheney
