14th Leading Creek Stream Sweep a Success
Volunteers completely filled this dump truck with litter collected from along Leading Creek and its tributary streams during the 14th annual Leading Creek Stream Sweep, which was held Saturday morning at the Meigs SWCD Conservation Area near Rutland. Here Bill Foley of Harrisonville, Ray Johnson of Middleport and Jim Freeman, Racine, transfer trash from a pickup truck into the dump truck.
RUTLAND – Nearly 50 people turned out on a beautiful spring morning to help with the 14th annual Leading Creek Stream Sweep, held Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon at the Meigs SWCD Conservation Area on New Lima Road.
The first 12 Leading Creek Stream Sweeps were held in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Leading Creek Improvement Project. Now it is held as part of a cooperative litter control project between the Meigs Soil and Water Conservation District, Meigs County Board of Commissioners and the Gallia-Jackson-Meigs-Vinton Solid Waste Management District. Other sponsors include the Rutland Township Board of Trustees and the Meigs County Transfer Station.
The first stream sweep was held in 2001 at Firemen’s Park in Rutland where it was held until 2006 when it moved to Jim Vennari Park in Rutland, this was first year it was held at the Conservation Area. Stream Sweep is generally held in conjunction with the annual Earth Day observance.
Following a welcome and safety brief by Meigs SWCD wildlife specialist Jim Freeman, volunteers fanned out throughout the 150-square-mile Leading Creek watershed to pick up litter before returning to the Conservation Area to deposit their finds in the Rutland Township dump truck. For their effort the volunteers received pizza for lunch and a Leading Creek Stream Sweep t-shirt.
This year volunteers collected enough plastic bottles, trash and other junk to completely fill the township’s dump truck with some overflow into one of the SWCD’s pickup trucks.
“It is hard to say just how much stuff has been picked up over the years,” Freeman said. “The first few years were probably the worst in terms of sheer amounts of trash and heavy junk.
“In a perfect world we’d have a stream sweep and not find anything to pick up, but we’re not there yet.”
If you missed your chance to help clean up the outdoors, there are more activities planned including the annual Ohio River Sweep which will be held June 21. River Sweep is an event organized by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, an interstate water pollution agency for the Ohio River Valley, and it has been held since 1989 and encompasses the entire length of the river from Pittsburgh, Pa. to Cairo, Ill.
In addition, Meigs County community groups can organize their own county and township roadside clean-ups through the Meigs SWCD’s Meigs County – Pick It Up! Program. In that program, the district provides logistical support including bags, gloves and pick-up service for groups wanting to do their own community service clean-up projects.
For more information on River Sweep or Meigs County – Pick It Up! contact the Meigs SWCD weekdays at 992-4282.
