All Entries Tagged With: "Columbia Bottom"
Got your gloves ready? It’s Trash Bash time!
Help to keep our local waterways clean. Volunteer at Trash Bash on March 24.
Let’s face it. This has not been a great year for North County’s waterways. First we learned that the Watkins Creek Watershed, which covers 6.7 square miles in the Spanish Lake area, is contaminated with toxic levels of salt and e-coli. Then it was reported that Coldwater Creek in Florissant may be responsible for health issues in local residents. Now we’re hearing that nuclear waste, long ago buried in a Bridgeton landfill, may actually be contaminating our groundwater.
Geez. How depressing.
It’s easy to read all of that and feel defeated, I know. But I’m here to tell you that you CAN make a difference! Maybe not with toxins or nuclear waste – that’s a bigger job than you and me. But with trash! You can have a huge impact on the health of our local ecosystem by helping to pull litter from our creeks and rivers. All you have to do is volunteer for Trash Bash…
Now in its fourth year, this annual event is one of the regions largest river clean-ups, with more than 800 volunteers of all ages expected to participate in 2012. If you want to lend a hand (and get free lunch in the process), all you have to do is register by March 21 then show up on March 24.
There are two starting locations to choose from: the old Chain of Rocks Bridge @ Riverview & 270 or Choteau Island in Madison, Illinois. And if you happen to discover the largest or most unusual trash find of the day, you might even win a prize!
The Confluence Trash Bash is scheduled for Saturday, March 24, from 8:30am to 12:30pm. For more info or to register, jump on over here.
By the way, if you want to learn more about efforts to clean up Watkins Creek, head to Trinity High School, 1720 Redman Road, on March 19. Starting at 6:30pm, an update on the Watkins Creek Watershed Management Plan will be given at the Spanish Lake Community Association’s town hall meeting.
Photo Essay: Dave Naumann’s Native NoCo
An adventurer at heart, local attorney Dave Naumann likes going off the beaten path to explore the hidden natural areas of North County.
As the year closes out and I look back at all the reasons I’ve had to be grateful in 2011, I can’t help but think of you, dear NOCO readers. Since I launched this blog two years ago, I’ve gotten to meet so many amazing people, both here in North County and throughout St. Louis. Hundreds of you have emailed with story ideas or insightful comments, and quite a few have even offered to help. Thank you!
One of those generous “helpers” is David Naumann, a Florissant attorney and lifelong NoCo resident whose passion is hiking and biking North County’s many unspoiled pockets of wilderness. Dave knows the area’s trails and hidden pathways probably better than anyone, and lucky for us, he always brings a camera along.
He has been offering to share his images for months now, and I finally got a chance to pull them all together. I have to admit, some of them are so gorgeous, they even made me wonder if they’re really in North County. But of course they are!
Many thanks to Dave Naumann for these beautiful photos, and to everyone who read NOCO and supported North County this year! You are truly appreciated!! Enjoy…
Volunteers needed for the Confluence Clean-Up
Over the past decade, the nonprofit Missouri River Relief has removed nearly 600 tons of trash from Missouri's waterways. Next up: the Confluence...
FROM THE NEWS WIRE:
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.
“We are excited about the opportunity to support Missouri River Relief in its efforts to clean up the Missouri River,” said Susan Trautman, Executive Director of Great Rivers Greenway. “We want to congratulate Missouri River Relief on a decade devoted to restoring our rivers, and we encourage area residents to join them in their fight to beautify the Missouri River and surrounding areas.”
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.
Appreciate Columbia Bottom on May 14
Come learn about the Columbia Bottom flood plain and the wildlife that lives there at Columbia Bottom Appreciation Day on May 14. Photo: Richard Keeling
If you live in the Spanish Lake area or have any interest in preserving the vibrant natural wonders near the Missouri/Mississippi Confluence, don’t miss Columbia Bottom Appreciation Day this weekend. Scheduled for Saturday, May 14, from 1-4pm, this free event sponsored by the St. Louis Audubon Society, Trailnet, the Sierra Club and the Confluence Partnership will feature educational displays, local speakers and a bird walk around the conservation area.
Bring your own chairs, but no pets please. Drinks & snacks will be available, as well as on-site parking. Here’s the full schedule:
1:00pm Participants will meet at the main tent area (on the pad of concrete south of the shed). Demonstrations will show the flooded farm, signs will point to the proposed casino area, how important the natural area is with the bluffs showing the natural migration of the river, explaining the tables and stream testing, old farm machinery demo, etc.
1:20pm Carolyn Pufualt will talk about the Missouri River and the plans the Corp of Engineers has. She will also give out info to others if they want to become involved.
1:35pm Dora Gianoulakis, President of the Spanish Lake Community Association, will talk about why the proposed Riverview Casino is not dead as well as other development in the area.
3:00pm Anyone that wants to go on a bird walk led by Audubon will be asked to go to the Missouri Department of Conservation Visitor Center parking lot (801 Strodtman). The office will also have someone there to talk about their services.
LOCATION: Becherer Farm, 12010 Riverview Drive, 63138
Are you getting ready for the big day? NOCO is a proud sponsor of the 3rd annual Live Well Ferguson 5K