Volunteers Needed To Help Clean Up The Missouri River | Environment

The Great Rivers Greenway District is encouraging area residents to join them on Saturday, Oct. 29, and help support Missouri River Relief in its effort to clear trash and debris from the shores of the Missouri River. The Confluence Clean-up, which is the last scheduled event of Missouri River Relief's month-long, statewide effort to clear litter from the Missouri River, aims to clean up the area near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Volunteers will be ferried by boat starting at 9 a.m. to different riverbanks and islands along the Missouri River to pick up trash that has washed ashore. Additional volunteers are encouraged to clean up trash along the trails and parking lots of this area.

Volunteers of all ages are needed and will meet at the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area Boat Ramp, located at 801 Strodtman Rd. in Spanish Lake.  Registration starts at 8:30 a.m., although volunteers are encouraged to register in advance by visiting www.riverrelief.org. Participants will be provided with water, lunch, t-shirts, work gloves, trash bags and transportation by boat to the various clean-up sites. Missouri River Relief will also be providing lifejackets, but encourages anyone who brings a child to also bring along a proper-fitting lifejacket to keep each child as safe as possible. Following lunch, additional volunteers will be needed to load trash onto the trash barge.

The Confluence Clean-up is the final event of the Big Muddy Clean Sweep, the keystone project of Missouri River Relief's 10th anniversary celebration. This month-long endeavor, which began on Sept. 26, has included community-based cleanups along the Missouri River, educational field trips, river festivals, barge tours and celebrations across the state of Missouri from Kansas City to the Confluence in St. Louis. The Big Muddy Clean Sweep spans 170 miles in eight towns on the Missouri River, including Kansas City, Jefferson City, Washington, St. Charles and St. Louis.

Volunteers participating in the Oct. 29 Confluence clean-up are encouraged to wear work boots or tennis shoes (no flip flops), work clothes, bug spray, sunglasses, sunscreen and bring refillable water bottles. Trash collected from the event will be hauled on a sand barge and unloaded at terminals on the Mississippi River for recycling or for disposal at landfills. To learn more, visit www.riverrelief.org or call 573.443.0292.