What  is The Great Mississippi River Cleanup?

Living Lands & Waters (LL&W) hosted the first-ever simultaneous one-day cleanup of the Upper Mississippi River from St. Paul, MN to St. Louis, MO on June 19th, 2010. Due to high water two more dates were added on September 18, 2010 and September 25,2010. The cleanup was a tremendous success with over 1,100 volunteers participating in 23 cities. An estimated 62,000 pounds of debris was removed from the Mississippi River!  

In 2011 the GMRC will be held on four different dates

• Saturday, June 11, 2011 – GMRC Part 1
  Confirmed participating cities include the following.
  Please click on the city for more information.
  
  - St. Paul, MN
  - Lake City, MN
  - Wabasha, MN
  - Alma Landing
  - Winona, MN
  - La Crosse, WI
  
  
  
• Saturday, July 9, 2011 – GMRC Part 2
  
  - Dubuque, IA
  - Cassville, WI - See rescheduled date below.
  - Sabula, IA
  - Clinton, IA
  
  
• Saturday, August 20, 2011- GMRC Part 3
  - Red Wing, MN (Cancelled due to High Water)
  
  
  
• Saturday, August 13, 2011- GMRC Part 3
  - Quad Cities, IL/IA
  - Muscatine, IA
  - New Boston, IL
  - Oquawka, IL
  - Burlington, IA
  - For Madison, IA
  
  
• Saturday, September 10, 2011 – GMRC Part 4
  
  - Cassville, WI - CANCELLED
  - Prairie du Chien, WI
  
  
• Saturday, September 17, 2011 – GMRC Part 4
  
  - Alton, IL
  - St. Louis, M0 - Registration has reached CAPACITY
  
  
• Saturday, September 24, 2011 – GMRC Part 4
  
  - Quincy, IL
  

 

How can I get Involved?
Putting on such an ambitious event takes a lot of work from a lot of people. LL&W is looking for assistance from community volunteers, organizations, and businesses in the following capacities:

Site Coordinators: 
LL&W is looking to appoint at least one locally-based site coordinator at each location. Site coordinators will be armed with LL&W's guidance and assistance to recruit local volunteers, locate boats and drivers for transporting volunteers, solicit donations for supplies, identify disposal facilities, and more.  Please click here for a full description of site coordinator duties. Note that not all duties listed are required. LL&W staff will be available to fill in any gaps that site coordinators may not have the time or expertise to execute. Duties of site coordinators could easily be split up among various people within a community.

Volunteers:
LL&W is looking for able-bodied volunteers of all ages to assist in garbage collection on the actual day of the cleanup, from 9am-1pm. Minors will need to be accompanied by an adult or guardian. All volunteers will receive a free t-shirt OR reusable stainless steel water bottle for their participation as well as a free lunch. Volunteers MUST pre-register. Click here to view our waiver.

Volunteer Boats and Boat Drivers:               
LL&W is looking for safe and responsible water enthusiasts to assist with transporting volunteers in their boats to cleanup locations. Also, LL&W is looking for people who are willing to haul debris in their boats to the boat launch where roll-off dumpsters or other disposal facilities will be in place. Boat drivers must be willing to sign and submit a release of liability as well as a boater agreement stating that you will agree to follow LL&W's policies and rules of conduct. To view these documents, please click on the links below.
Release of Liability-for boat owners/operators
Boater Agreement

Who do I Contact if I have Questions?
Project Coordinator:    
Tammy Becker
309.236.0725
tammy@livinglandsandwaters.org

Project Assistant:           
Nora Coyne-Logan
309.236.0728
nora@livinglandsandwaters.org

The Great Mississippi River Cleanup would not be possible without the generous support of the following