Faribault volunteers with their hauls of litter. (Clean River Partners photos)
By Kevin Strauss, Clean River Partners
Over 200 volunteers picked up litter at seven sites across the Cannon River Watershed on Saturday as part of Clean River Partners’ “Cannon River Watershed-Wide CleanUP.” Events took place in Northfield, Cannon Falls, Faribault, Owatonna, Waterville, and Shields Lake. Crews picked up discarded fishing poles, chairs, rakes, signposts, and lots of bottles and food wrappers as part of this annual river cleanup event.
"It was a great day," said Northfield CleanUP Site Leader Rich Lorang. "It was good to see so many of our friends and neighbors working together to help clean up the Cannon River.”
In addition to family volunteers, a group from St. Olaf College and from Carleton College helped out in Northfield. A workplace team from Henkel picked up litter at Riverside Park in Cannon Falls. The Faribault American Heritage Girls (AHG) helped with the CleanUP at Two Rivers Park in Faribault and at Morehouse Park in Owatonna.
“Service is an important part of American Heritage Girls,” said Faribault AHG Troop Coordinator Alicia Stokes. “The Watershed Clean-up is a great way for our Troop to serve our community.”
Groups found a safe, a chair, car tires, glass bottles, broken fishing poles, a rake, metal shelving, and lots of discarded fishing line in addition to plastic bottles and food wrappers. Volunteers collected an estimated 8,600 pounds of litter this year. Many cities, including Northfield and Faribault, donated dumpster space to help volunteers clean up area parks and riverbanks. Since its inception in 2009, the CleanUP has recruited over 2,858 volunteers to pick up over 173,420 pounds of litter from riverbanks, parks, and lakeshores in the region.
The Medford CleanUP event takes place on Saturday, Sept. 25th, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Medford city park.
This event is organized by Clean River Partners (formerly known as Cannon River Watershed Partnership), a local clean water nonprofit group who believes that everyone should be able to swim and boat in healthy rivers and lakes. If you would like to take part in the 2022 CleanUP, mark your calendar for the 3rd Saturday in September. Next year’s CleanUP takes place on Saturday, Sept. 17th. To learn more visit www.CleanRiverPartners.org/cleanup.