Contributed by Barth Johnson
For three years in a row, a group of volunteers floated down the Main Licking River from Falmouth to Kincaid Creek, clearing up the river. As was expected, the 12 canoes were full by the end of the trip. Some of items collected included 82 tires, 1,360 pounds of steel (consisting of a bicycle, a iron bath tub, a kitchen sink, most of a vehicle, and a coffee maker, just to name a few). Also collected was 35 pounds of aluminum, all of which was recycled. From everything collected, only 300 pounds of garbage ended up in the landfill.
It was a good effort put forth to improve the water quality of our river.
Special thanks to the 109 Board and Billy Steele for the rental of canoes from Thaxton’s Canoe Rental and for Glen Thaxton’s help in unloading and loading of canoes and the all the times brought downstream.
The Butler Lions Club had six members helping out during the day, five floated the river and JoEllen Mitchell delivered our after-event meal. Brian Starz, the new Licking River Basin coordinator, supplied t-shirts from ORSANCO and was part of needed muscle on the bigger tires.
Five Kentucky conservation officers were involved, four floating in canoes, and a retired conservation officer let us use his land for the third year in a row to offload and remove all canoes and trash.
The grubbing hoes used were from Licking River Watershed Watch. Mike Moore, his daughter RN Emily, and Michele Hamilton represented the 911 Center for the third year in a row.
Finally, for the third year in a row, Retired Navy SEAL Joel Nahari fell in to float his hat. It’s his annual cool down in the river.
The river thanks all the volunteers for help in getting the water quality improved, but there is still a lot of work to be done.