Record turnout for Flint River Cleanup!

Saturday, June 6, was the first Flint River cleanup of 2009. We had a record turnout! Final numbers aren't in yet, but a good guess is at least 90 people! FRCA teams had about 25 boats on the water, while Scott Ammons of North Alabama Canoe and Kayak provided 40 canoes for the event. Operation Green Team provided trash bags and other supplies. We had so many volunteers we were able to have groups clean five different sections of the river. Wow! Here are some pictures from a successful trip to keep our river clean! If you have additional pictures you'd like us to post, send them to flintriverconservation@gmail.com!

We basically took over a portion of the Publix parking lot as we got ready to go. Here are some of Scott's canoes:


Getting ready to put-in at the Hayes Nature Preserve:


Getting started. A few paddlers work on extracting trash from low-hanging vegetation. Notice how muddy the water is! That shows how much work still needs to be done to prevent excessive sedimentation in our waterways.


The Flint really is a lovely river.


The aftermath... here's the trash one group pulled out of the river:


And a nice group shot of some of our fabulous volunteers!

After a long day paddling and bagging trash, we were starving! Our friends at Artisan's Cove kindly provided a wonderful cookout for us in the afternoon. We all thoroughly enjoyed the food, the company, and looking around the Cove's gardens and chicken coops! Thanks!


Enjoying good food and company at Artisan's Cove:


Thank you to all of the volunteers who turned out to spend a productive day on the Flint River! An additional thanks to North Alabama Canoe and Kayak for providing so many canoes, Artisan's Cove for the wonderful food, the Huntsville Canoe Club for spreading the word and recruiting volunteers, and Operation Green Team for ongoing support of Flint River cleanups! Join us for our next river cleanup in September!